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EDUCATION: 



raTELLECTUAL. MORAL, AIS^D PHYSICAL. 



BY 



HERBERT SPENCER. 



CHAPTER I. 

■WHAT KNOWLEDGE IS OP MOST WORTH ? 

It has been truly remarked tlint, in order 
of time, decoration prc-edes dress. Among 
people who submit to great phyyieal suflfer- 
mg that they may have thom.selvcs hand- 
somely tattooed, extreme.s of temperature are 
borne with but little attempt at mitiifation. 
Huml)oldt tells us that an Orinoco Indian, 
though quite regardless of bodily comfort, 
will yet labor for a fortnight to purchase 
pigment wherewith to make himself ad- 
mired ; and that the same woman who would 
not hesitate to leave her hut without a frag- 
ment of clothing on would not dare to com- 
mit such a breach of decorum as to go out 
unpainted. Voyagers uniformly find that 
colored heads and trinkets are much more 
prized by wild tribes than are calicoes or 
broadcloths. And the anecdote we have of 
tlve ways in which, when shirts and coats are 
given, they turn them to some ludicrous dis- 
play, show how completely the idea of orna- 
ment predominates over that of use. Nay, 
Ijihere are still more extreme illustrations : 
witness the fact narrated by Captain Speke 
'of his African attendants, who strutted about 
in their goat-skin mantles when the weather 
hmaa fine, but when it was Aret, tooi: them 



off, folded them up, and went about naked, 
shivering in the rain ! Indeed, the facts of 
aboriginal life seem to indicate that dress is 
developed out of decorations. And when 
we remember that even among ourselves 
most think more about the fineness of the 
fabric than its warmth, and more about the 
cut thnn the convenience — when we see thai; 
the function is still in great measure subordi- 
nated to ihe appearance — we have further 
reason for inferring such an origin. 

It is not a little curious that the like rela- 
tions hold with the mind. Among mental 
as among bodily acquisitions, the ornamental 
comes before the useful. Not only in times 
past, but almost as much in our own era, 
that knowledge which conduces to personal 
well-being has been postponed to that which 
brings applause. In the Greek schools, 
music, poetry, rhetoric, and a philosopi v 
which, until Bocrtites taught, had but little 
bearing upon action, were the dominant sub- 
jects ; while knowledge aiding the arts of 
life had a very subordinate place. And in 
our own universities and schools at the pres- 
ent moment the like antithesis holds. Wo 
are guilty of something like a platitude when 
we say that throughout his after-career a 
boy, in nine cases out of ten, applies his 
Latin and Greek to no practical purposes 



2,06 



KDUCATION: INTELLECTUAL. MOKAL, AND PHYSICAL. 



The remark is trite that in his shop, or his 
office, in manairin£c his estate or his family, 
in playinir his part as director of a hank or 
a lailwny, l»e is very httJe aid^d by this 
knoT\']ed,i^e he tof'k so many years to sequire 
- -so little, that jrenerally the prpater part ot 
U drops out of his memory ; and if lie occa- 
sionally vents a Latin quotation orallndcsto 
some (Treck m}'!!), it is lpsslolhro\7 litrht on 
t!;e topic in ham' than fur tlie s;ike of "effect. 
If we inquire wh^U. is the real motive for 
giving boys a classjer.l education, we find it 
to Ik; simply conforinily to ptiiilic opinion. 
Men dress their children's minds as they do 
their bodies, in the prevailing fashion." As 
the Orinoco Indian puts on his pjiint before 
leaving his hut, not with a view to any di- 
rect benefit, but because he would be ashfuned 
to be seen without it , so a boy's drilling in 
Latin and Greek is insisted on. noi because 
of their intrinsic value, but that he may not 
be disgraced by being found ignoiant of them 
— that he may have " theedocalinn of a gen- 
tleman" — the badge mavking a certain social 
pasition, and bringinc a consequent icspfct. 
This parallel is still more clea'Iy displayed 
in the case of the other sex. In tiic treat- 
ment of both mind and body, the decorative 
element has continue<l to prt'dominate in a 
greater d-gree ajuonir womuu thim among 
men. Originally personal adornment occu- 
pied the attenliou of bi<th sexes equally. In 
these latter days of civdizalion, however, we 
see that in the dross of men the regard for 
appearance has, in a ccmsiderable degree, 
yielaed to the regard for comfort ; while in 
their education the useful has of late been 
trenching on trhe ornamental. In neither di- 
rection h!>? this chango gone so far with 
■women. The wearing of ear-rings, finger- 
rings, bracelets ; the elaborate dressings of 
the hair ; the still occasional u.so of paint ; 
the imnicn-ie labor bestowed in making habil- 
imenls sufficieutly attractive ; and the great 
discomfort thai will be submitted to for the 
sake of conformity : show how greatly, in 
the attiring of women, tiie desire of approba- 
tion overrides the desire for warmth and 
convenience. And similarly in their educa- 
tion, the imraeuse preponderance of "ac- 
complishments"' proves how here, too, use 
is subordiualed to display. Dancing, deport- 
ment, the piano, singing, diawing — what a 
large space do these occupy ! If you ask 
why Italian and German are learned, you will 
find that, under all the sham reasons given, 
the real reason is, that a knowledge of those 
tongues is tliouglit ladylike. It Is not that 
the books written in them maybe utilized, 
^hich they scarcely ever are ; but that 
Italian and German songs may be sung, and 
that the extent of attainment m.iy bring 
whispered admiratitin. The births, deaths, 
and mairiages of kings, and other like lii.s- 
toric trivialities, are conunitled to memory, 
not because of any direct ben( fits that can 
po.ssibly result from knowing them, but be- 
cause society considers them parts of a goud 
education — because the absence of such 
knowledge may bring the contempt of others. 



Whan we have named ^Cfiding, writing, 
spelling, grammar, arithmetic, and sewirrg. 
we have uanjcil about all the tiiiugs a girl is 
taught with a view to their direct uses \a 
life ; and even some of these have more ref- 
erence to the good opinion of others tlian to 
immediate person:d welfare. 

Thoroughly to realize the truth that with 
the mind as with the body the (;ruamcnta- 
precedes the useful, it is ueedfui to glance a" 
its rationale. This lies in the fact that. 
from the far past down even to the present, 
social needs have subordinated individual 
needs, aud that the chief social need has been 
the control of individuals. It is not, as we 
commonly suppose, that there are no govern- 
ments but those of monarchs, aud parlia- 
ments, and constituted authorities. These 
aciinowiedged governments are supplemented 
by other unacknowledged ones, tliat grow 
up in all circles, in which every man oi 
woman strives to be king or queen or Icssei 
dignitary. To get ab.)ve some and be rever- 
enced by them, and to prop.liate those who 
are above u-i, is the univer.sul strug-glc in 
which the chief eneigies of life are ex- 
pended. By the accumulation of wealth, 1/ 
style of living, by beauty of drcs.s, by dis-. 
play of knowledge cr intellect, each tries to 
subjugate oliiers, and so aids in weaving 
tiiat ramified n:;twork of restramts by which 
society i-^ kept in order. It is not the savage 
chief only who, ia formidable war-paint, 
with scalps at his belt, aims to stiike awe 
into his inferiors; it is not only the belle- 
who, by elab»r-ate toilet, polished manners, 
and numerous accompiislunenls, strives to 
" make contjuests ;" but tiie scholar, the his- 
toriau, the philosopher, use their acquire- 
ments 10 the same cud. We are none of us 
content with (juietly unfolding our own in- 
dividualities to the full in all directions, but 
have a restless craving to impress our indi- 
vidualizes upon others, and in some way 
subordinate them. And tiiis it is which de- 
termines the character of our education 
Not what knowledge is of mo^t real wortii 
is the consideration, but what will bring 
most apjilause, honor. res(»pct — what will 
most con iuce to social position and intlu- 
eace — what v/ill Le most imposing. A3 
throughout lite not what we are, but what 
we shall bethoiiglit, is the question ; soined-- 
ucaliou, the question is, not the intrinsic 
value of knowledge, so much as its extrin.sic 
effects on others. Auvl lliis being our domi- 
nant idea, direct utility is scarcely moiere. 
garded than by the bai Uaiian when filling his 
teeth and staining his nails. 

If tiie'e nieds any further evidence of the 
rude, undeveloped character of our educ^a- 
tion, we have it in the lact that the cnmpar- 
ativo worths of ditfeicnl kinds of knowledge 
have been a.^ yrt scarcely even dic-cuised — 
much less discussed in a methodic way with 
definite results. Not only in U liial no &tand- 
aid of relative values has yet been agreed 
upon, biit the fsislence of invsuch stand- 
ard has not iieeu conceived in any clear man- 
ner Aud not only is it that the c.xistenca 




EDUCATION: INTELLECTUAL, :M0RAL, AND PHYSICAL. 



257 



of any such standard has not been clearly 
conceived, but the need for it seems to Jiavo 
been BcarcA^ly even felt. Men read books ou 
this topic, and att^'ud leclurts on that ; de- 
cide that their children bliall be iastiueted in 
^ these branches uf know led t^e, and Bball not 
be inslructcd in those ; and all unJer the 
guidance of mere custom, or liking, or prej- 
udic'-'. without ever considering the enor- 
mous Importance of determining in some ra- 
tional way what things ary really most worlli 
learning. It is tiu3 that in all circles we 
bave occasional remarks on tiie impurtjxnce 
of this or the otlier order of information. 
But Vi'Iiether the degree of its importance jus- 
titles tlie cxpen.iituie of the time ueeded to 
Eci'uiro it, and whether there are not things 
of more importance to which the time might 
be better devoted, are queries which, if 
raised at all, are disposed of quite summatily, 
according to personal predilections. It is 
true, also, that from time to time we hear re- 
vived the standing controversy respecting the 
comparative merits of classics and mathe- 
matics. Not only, however, is this contro- 
versy carried on in an empirical manner, 
"wilh no reference to an ascertained crite- 
rion, but the question at issue is totally in- 
significant when compared with the general 
que&tion of which it is part. To suppose 
that deciding whether a mathematical or a 
classical education is the best, is deciding 
wiiat is the proper curriculum, is much the 
same thing as to suppose that the whole of 
dietetics lies in determining whether or not 
bread :s more nutritive than potatoes ! 

The question which we contend is of such 
transcendent moment, is, not whether such 
or such knowledge is of worth, but what is 
Its relative wortli ? When they have named 
certain advantages which a given course of 
study has secured them, persons are apt to 
assuuie that tlit:y bave justified themsdves: 
quite foigetting that the adequateuess of the 
advantages is the point to be judged. 
Tlicie is. perhaps, bot a subject to which 
men devote ailention that has not souis value. 
A year diligently spent in geltiug up heruld- 
ry would very pcssiuly give a littlo fi.ither 
insight into aucient matincrs and moral.-, and 
into the origin of names. Any one who 
should learn the distances btlvvecn all the 
towns in England might., in the couise of 
Lis life, find one or two of the thousand facts 
he had acquiied of some slight service when 
arranging a journey. Gathering together all 
the small gosrsip of a county, piotitless occu- 
pation as it wtmld be, might j'et occasionally 
help to establish some useful fact — say, », 
good example of hereditary transmission. 
But in these cases every one won Id admit 
that theie was no proportion between the 
required Inbcr and the probable benefit. No 
one would tolerate the proposal to devote 
some years of a boy's time to getting such 
information, at the cost of mn(;h more val- 
uable information which lie might else have 
got. And if here tlie test of relative value is 
appealed to and held (tonclusive, then should 
it be appealed to and held conclusive throujju- 



out. Had we time to masi' r jid pubj"ct5 vm 
ueed not be parlieulir. 'i\ qu.,lc l.'te old song . 

" Co-: Id a nnin be secure 
Tliiit his (lays Wfuild endure 
.\^ I'f >) d, for n -111)11-81111 loii,"- years, 

WilJlt timi:..- Ill L'l.l lie I Tlcl\\ ! 

Wlmt ficeds mizhf lie do! 

And nil wiihou; hurry or cire." 

"But we lh;it have l)ut span long livcB" 
must ever bear in mind our limited time fot 
acquisition. And rcmem!.>eiing how nar- 
rowly this time is limited, not onij' by the 
shortness of life but also still more by the 
business of life, we ought to be especiallv 
solicitous to employ what time we have to 
the greatest advjmtag". Before devoting 
years to some subject which fashion or fancy 
suggests, it is surely wise to weigh witbi 
great care the worth of the results, as com- 
pared w ith the worth of various alternative 
results wdiich the same years might bring if 
otherwise applied. 

In education, then, tlii.s is the question of 
questions, which it \i high time wed iscu.ssed 
in some metiiodio •'.'ay. The fiist iU impor- 
tance, thiiugh the l<iL>t to be considered, is 
the problem, ln/.v to decide am,. ng the con- 
flicting claims cf various subjects on our 
attention. Before there can be a rational 
curriculum, wo mn.';t settle which things it 
most concerns us to know ; or, to use a word 
of Bacon's, /jOW unfortunately obsolete, wa 
must dcteruime the relative values of knowl- 
edges. 

To this tnd a measure of value is the fii-st 
requisite. And happily, re.^.pectlng the trne 
measure of value, as e.xpre.«.sed in general 
terms, there can be no dispute. Every one 
in contcr..ding for the wortli of any particu- 
lar order cf information, dues s > by shewing 
its bearing upon some part of life. In reply 
to the question. "Of what use is it?" the 
mathematician, linguist, naturalist, or phi- 
losopher explains the way in which his 
learning beneficially influences action — saves 
from evil or secures good — conuuces to hap- 
piness. Yv^hen the teacher of writing baa 
pointed out how great an aid writing is to 
success in business — that is, to the obtain- 
ment of sustenance — th-it is, to .■satisfactory 
living — he is held to have proved his case. 
And When the collector of dead facts (say a 
numismatist) fails to make clear any appre- 
ciable effects which these facts can produce 
ou human welfar;, he is obliged to admi.t 
that they are crmpaiatively valueless. Ail 
then, either directly or by implication, ap- 
peal to tlii,s as the ultimate test. 

How to live ? — that IS the essential question 
for us. Not how to live in tht- mere mate- 
rial sense only, l)ut in the widest sense. The 
general problem which compjehcnds every 
special probieni is, the right ruling of con- 
duct in sll directions under all circum- 
stances. In wiiat Avay to treat the body ; ia 
what v.-ay to trtat the mind ; in what way to 
manage cur alluirs , lu what way to bring 
up a family : in what way to behare as a 
citizen ; in what wa}' to utilize all those 
sourci-a of happiness which nature supplier 



258 



EDUCATION; INTELLECTUAL, ilORAL, AND PHYSICAL. 



—how to use all our faculties to the greatest 
advantage of ourselves and others — how to 
live cciiVpletely ? And this being the great 
IhiniJC ueedful i'or ns to learn, is, by conL-c- 
tjuencc, the great thing ■which education has 
to teach. To pr'-oare us for complete living 
is the function \ -iich tducation has to dis- 
charge ; and the only lational mode of judg- 
ing of any educational course is. to judge in 
what degice it divchaiges sucli function. 

This lest, nrver used in its entirety, but 
rarely even piutially used, and used then in a 
^aglle, liaif-crnscious w;iy, has to b(' applied 
consciously, niethoilically, and thiongl)oulall 
("isfs. U behoiives us to tiet before oui selves, 
an i evpr to keep clearly in view, complete 
living as the end to be nchieved ; so that in 
bringing up our chi'lrrn we may choose 
eubjecls and metlu/ds of instiuction with 
delitierate reference to this end. Not only 
ouglit we to cease from the mere unthinking 
ariojition of the cnrreni fashion in education, 
which has no betier warrant than any other 
fashion, but we must also rise above that 
rude, empirical style of judging displayed by 
those more intelligent people who do bestow 
eorae care in oveiseeing the cultivation of 
their clnldren's minds. It must not sufhee 
simply to tlujik that sutih or such informa- 
tion ^Yill be useful in after life, or that this 
kind of knowledge is of more practical value 
than that ; but we must seek out some pro- 
cess of estimating their respective values, so 
that as far as possible we may positively 
''cnom which are most deserving of attention. 

Doubtless the task is dilflcult — perhaps 
never to be more than approximately achiev- 
ed. But considering the vastness of the inler- 
*!sts at stake, its difUculty is no reason for 
pusillanimously pissing it by, l)ul; rather for 
devoting every energv to its mastery. And 
if we only proceed systematic^illy, we may 
.jry soon gut at results of \v) small moment. 

Our first step must obviously be to clas- 
sify, in the order of their importance, the 
leading kinds of activity which constituto 
human life. They may be naturally ar- 
ranged into, 1. Those activities which di- 
rectly miinster to self-preservation ; 2. Tiiose 
ncti vities which, by securing the necessaries of 
life, indirectly minister to self-preservation ; 
8. Those activities which have for their end the 
rearing and discipline of offspring ; 4. Those 
activities v/hich are involved in the mainte- 
nance of proper social and [)olilical relations; 
5. Those miscellaneous activities whicli make 
up the leisure part of life, devoted to the grat- 
illcati')a of the tastes and feelings. 

That tliese stand in something like their 
i;rue order of subordiniti )u, it needs no long 
consideration to show. The actinus and 
precautions by which, from moment to mi- 
ment, we S3cute personal safety must clearly 
lake precedence of all others. Could there 
be a mau, ignorant its an infant of all sur- 
rounding nbj(;ct3 and movements, or liow to 
giude liiinself amung them, he would pretty 
certainly lose his life the fi'st time ho* went 
into tiie street, notwithstanding any amount 
uf learning he might have uu other matters 



And as entire ignorance in all other direc- 
tions would bo less promptly fatal thtin en- 
tire ignorance in tii s dirertiwn, it must be 
admitted that knov/ledge immediatLly cin- 
ducive to self-preservation is of primary 
importance. 

That ne.it after direct self-preservation 
comes th;; indire.-t self-preservation, which ^ 
consists in acquiring th'5 means of hv 
ing, mne will <|uestioa. That a man's in 
dustrial f unci ions must b? considered be- 
fore his parental ones is manifest from the 
fact that, speaking generally, tiu discharge 
of the parental fuuclions is m;ide possible 
only by the previous discharge of the indus- 
trial ones. The power of self-maintenance 
necessarily preceiling the pjwer of main- 
taining offspring, it follows that knowledge 
needful for self-maintenance has str<Miger 
claims than knowledge needful for family 
welfare — is second in value to none save 
knowledge needful for immediate self-pres- 
ervation. 

As the family comes before the state in 
order of time— as the bringing up of chil- 
dren is possible before the sliile exists, oi 
when it has ceased to be. whereas the state 
is rendered possible only by the bringing up 
of children — it follows that the duties of the 
parent demand closer attentiuu tliaii thnse of 
the citizen. Or, to use a further argument, 
since the goodness of a society ultimately de- 
pends on the niitue of its ciiizt^ns, and since 
the nature of its citizens is more m.idifiable 
by early traiuiug than by jmything else, we 
must conclude that the welfare of the family 
underlies the welfare of socipty. And 
hence knowle;lge directly conducing to the 
first miist take preeelenee of knowledge di- 
rectly combicing to Iho List. 

Those various forms of pleasurable occu- 
pation wiuch fill up the leisure Itd't by grav- 
er occupations — the enjoyments of music, 
poetry, paintinkr, etc. — manifestly imply a 
pre-existing society. Not only is a consid- 
erable development of them impoissible with- 
out a long-established social union, but their 
very subject-matter consists in great part of 
social senlimeul.s and sympathiLS. Not ouly 
does society supply the conditions to their 
growth, but al."o I he ideas iind seuiimeuts 
they express. And consequ;;atiy that part of 
h'linan conduct Which consliiules good citi- 
zenship is of more moment th:ui that Avhich 
goes out in accomplishments or cxrrci.se of 
the tastes ; and, in educatiim, preparation for 
the one must rank before preparation for the 
other. 

Such then, Vi'erepeat, is something like the 
rational order of subordination : That edu- 
cation which prc^par IS for dir"ct self-preser- 
vation ; tlial wliicl. piepares fur indirect 
pelf preservation : that which prepares for 
parenthf;od ; that win -h prep;;res for citizen- 
ship ; that which pr^p.ires for the miscella- 
neous rt-finenients of Tue. We do not mean 
to say that these di\isious are definitely sep- 
arable. We do not deny tliat they are intri- 
cately entangled with each other in such 
wiu: that there can be no training for any 



EDUCATION: INTELLECTUAL. MORAL. AND PHYSICAL. 



259 



that is not in some measure a traiuing for 
all. Nor do we que&liou that cf each divi- 
sion there are portious more iinporlaut than 
certaiu portious of the preceding divisions : 
that, for instance, .1 man of much skill iu busi- 
ness, but little other faculty, mny fall farther 
below the standard of complete living than 
one of but moderate power of acquiring 
money but great judgment as a parent: or 
that exhaustive information bearing on right 
social action, joined with entire want of gen- 
eial culture in literature and the fine arts, 5.3 
less desirable than a more moderate shaie ol 
the one joined with some of the ©ther. But, 
after making all qualifications, there still re- 
main these broadly-marked divisi>"ns • and it 
still continues substantially true lliat these 
divisions hubordiuate one another in the fore- 
going order, because the corresponding di- 
visions of life make one another xjossible la 
that order. 

Of course the ideal of education is, com- 
plete preparation in all these divisions. But 
failing this ideal, as in our phase of civiliza- 
tion every one must do more or less, the aim 
should be to maintain a due proportion be- 
tween the degrees of preparation in each. 
Not exhaustive cultivation m any one, su- 
premely important though it may be — not 
even an exclusive attention to the two, three, 
or four divisions of greatest importance ; but 
an attention to all — greatest where the value 
is greatest, less where the value is less, least 
where the value is least. For the average 
man (not to forget the cases in which pecu- 
liar aptitude for some one dcpaitinent of 
knowledge rightly makes that one the brcad- 
M'inning occupation) — for the average man, 
we say (lie desiilcialum is, a tiaining that 
approaches nearest to perfection in the 
things which most subserve coruplete living, 
and falls more and more below perfection in 
the things that have more and more remote 
bearings on complete living. 

Ill regulating education by this standard 
there are some! general considerations that 
should be ever present to us. The woitii of 
any kind of cuhure, as aiding complete liv- 
ing, may be either necessary or more or less 
cont4ngent. There is knowledge of intrinsic 
value, knowledge of quasi-inlrinsic value, 
and knowledge of conventional value. Such 
facts as that sensations of numbness and 
tiiigling commonly precede paralysis, that 
the resistance of water to a body moving 
through it varies as the square of the velocity, 
that chlorine is a disinfectant— these, and the 
truths of science in general, are of intrinsic 
value : they will bear on human conduct ten 
thousand years h^-nce as lliev do now. The 
extra knowledge of our cwn laniruaLre, which 
is given by an acquaintance with Latin and 
Greek, may he considerc'l to liave a value 
lliat is quasi-intrinsic ; it must exist for us 
and for other races whose languages owe 
much to these sources, but wiUlast only as 
long as our languages last. While that kind 
of information which, in our sciiools. usurp- 
the name History — tbc mere tissue of names 
and dales aud d;;ad unmeauiu;? events — hai; 



•a conventional value only ; it has not the re- 
motest bearing upon any of our actions, and 
is of use only for the avoidance of those un- 
pleasant criticisms which current opinion 
passes upon its absence. Of course, as those 
facts which concern all mankind throughout 
all lime must be held of grciitcr moment 
than those which concern only a portion of 
them during a limdted era, and of far greater 
moment than those which concern only a 
portion of them during the continuance of a 
fashion, it follows that in a rational estimate, 
knowledge of intrinsic wr,rth must, other 
things equal, take precedence of knowledge 
that is of quasi intiiusic or conventional 
worth. 

One further pr( liminary. Ac(piirement of 
every kind has Xwi values— value as knowl- 
edge and value as OiHcqiune. Besides its use 
for guidance in conduct, the acquisition of 
each order cf facts has also its use as mental 
exercise ; and its effects as a preparative for 
complete living have to be considered under 
both these heads. 

These, then, are the general ideas with 
which we must ss t out in discussing a curri- 
culum : Life as divided into several kirds of 
activity of successively decreasing impor- 
tance , the worth of each order of facts as reg- 
ulating these several kinds of activity, in- 
trinsieall}\ quasi-intrinsieally, and conven- 
tionally ; and their regulative inliuences e»- 
timated b;.t!i as knowledge and discipline. 

Happiiy, that u'1-impnrtaut part of educa- 
tion which goes to secure direct self-preser- 
vation is in great part already provided for. 
Too momentGus to be left to our blundering, 
nature take.'; )t into her own hands. While 
yet in Us nurse's arras, tho infant, bj' hiding 
its face and crying at the fight of a stranger, 
sliow3 tho dawning inslim.'t to attain safety 
by Hying from that wliicii is un!vni>wn and 
may be dangerous; and wIku it can walk, 
the terror it manifests if an unfamiliar dog 
Ciines near, or the scrfams with which it 
runs to its mother after anystaitling sight 0- 
sound, fihows this instinct further developed. 
Moreover, knowledge subserving direct self- 
preservation is that whi( h it is cliiefiy busied 
in ac(;uitiiig from hour to hour. IIow to 
balance its body ; how to coisfrol its move- 
ments so as to avoid collisions ; what objects 
are hard, and will hurt if struck ; what ob- 
jects are heavy, and injure if they fall on the 
limbs ; which things will bear the weight of 
the body, and which not ; the pains inflicted 
by fire, by missiles, by sharp instruments-- 
these, and vavious other pieces of infoima- 
tion nredful for the avoidance of death or 
accident, it is ever learning. And when, a 
few yeais later, the energies go out in run- 
ning, climbing, and jumping, in games of 
strt-ngth and games of skill, we see in all 
these actions h^ which the muscles are devel- 
oped tho perceptions shaipened and the 
judgment quickened, a pieparation for the 
safe conduct of the bod}' among suriouuding 
objects aiud movements, and for meeting 
those gi cater dangers that occasionally oc( ur 
iu the lives of all. Being thus, as we say, su 



2G0 



EDUCATION: INTELLECTUAL, MORAL, AND PHYSICAL. 



well cared for lij^ nnl iire, lliis fundamental 
odacatiou needs cf.niparativeiy liiile care 
from us. "What v.c are chiefl} called upon 
to pre is, Ihat there shall he free scope for 
gaining this experience and receiving this 
diaciplinc — that theie shall be no sueli thwart- 
ing of nature as that by whitli stupid school- 
mistresses commonly prevent the giils in. 
their charge from the spontaneous physical 
activities they would indulge in. and so ren- 
der them comparatively incapnble of taking 
care of themselves in circuniFtHnees of peril. 

This, howevtr, is by no m'^;ins all that is 
comprehended in flie education thnt pre- 
pares for direct self-prcservntion. Besides 
/ruarding the body against mechanical dam- 
nire or "de.';1 ruction, it h;is to be guarded 
against injury from other causes — iigainst tlie 
disease aud death that fiillov,' breaclu'S of 
physiologic law. ¥or com[)lete liviog it is 
necessary, not only that Budch-r^ annihilations 
of life shall be warded off. but also that 
there shall be escaped the iucaptjcities and 
the slow annihilation which unwise habits 
entail. As, without health and energy, the 
industrial, the parental, the social and all 
other activities become more or less impossi- 
ble, it is clear that tliis secondiuy kind of 
direct self-preservation is only l.'ss important 
than the primary kind, and that knowledge 
tending to secnire it should tank very high. 

It is tr-ue that hire, too, guidtmce is in 
som.e measure ready supplied. ]5y cur vari- 
ous physical s'.-nsalions and desires nature 
has insured a tolerable confoanity to the chief 
requirements. Fortimalcly for us, v/ant of 
food, great heat, extreme cdd, produce 
promptmgstooperempLory to be disregarded. 
And would men habitually obey these and all 
like promptings when less strong, compara- 
tively few evils would arise. If fatigue of 
body or brain were in every case followed by 
desisLance ; if the oppression produced by a 
close atmospheie always led to v* utdation ; 
if theiewei-eno eating without hunger, or 
drinking without thirst ; then would the 
sy^em be but srldiim out of working order. 
But so profound an ignorance is there of the 
laws of life that men do not even know that 
their sensations are their natural guides, and 
(when not rendered rnorbid by L^ng-con- 
tiuueddiso!>edience) their trust worthy guides. 
So that though, to si>eak teleologically, na- 
ture has provided effif icnt safeguards to 
health, lack of knowledge makes them in u 
great measure useless. 

If arry one doubts the importance of an ac- 
quaintance with the fundiimental principles 
of physiology : s a means tj conipkle living, 
let him look aruund and see how many men 
and women he can tind in middle or hiter 
life who are thoroughly well. Occasionally 
only do we meet with an example of vig-r- 
ous health cimtinued to old age ; hourly do 
we meet witii examples of acute disorder, 
chronic ailment, general debility, piemature 
decrepitude. Scarcely is there one lo who(u 
you put the question, who has net,«in the 
course of his life, brought upon h;ni'-il. ill- 
nesses which a little kaowle.l;.:o woul 1 have 



saved him from. Here is a case of heart 
disease consequent on a rheumatic fever that 
followed rec.vlcss exposure. There is a case 
of eyes spoiled for life by ovcr-slirdy. Yes- 
terday the iicfMunt was of one whose long- 
endirring h:!:i ness was brought on by con- 
tinning, spiic ■..•: the pain, lo use a knee after 
it had been • lightly injured. And to-day we 
ai'e told of another who has had to lie by for 
years because he did not know that the pal- 
pitation he suffered from resulted from over- 
taxed brain. Now we hear of an irremedia- 
ble injury that followed some silly ledt of 
strength ; and, again, of a constitution that 
has never recovered from the tffecls of tx- 
cessive work needlessly rrndertaken ; while 
on all sides we see the perpetual minor ail- 
ments which accompany fe 'bleuejs. Xot to 
dwell on the natural pain, the v.-eariness, tli>3 
gloom, the waste of time and money thus en- 
tailed, only consider how greatly lU-heallh 
hindtua the discharge of all duties— makes 
business often impossible, and always more 
difficult ; prodrrcL'S an irritabiliiy fatal to 
the right management of childien ; puts tli ; 
functions of citizenship out of the qaeslna ; 
and nrakes amusement a bore. Is it not (dear 
that the physical sins — partly our forel'athei s' 
and partly our own — which produce this ill- 
health, deditct more from complete living 
than anything else? and to a great extent 
make life a failure and a burden instead of a 
benefaction and a pleasure? 

To all which add the fact that life, be- 
sides being thus immensely deteriorated, is 
also citt short. It is not true, as we cora- 
monl}'' suppose, that a disorder or disease 
from which we have recovered leaves us as 
before. No disturbance of the normal course 
of the functions can pass away and leave 
things exactly as they were. In all cases a 
permanent damage is done— not immediate- 
ly appreciable, it may be, btrt still there ; and 
along with otiier sucdi items which nature 
in liLT strict account-keeping never drops, 
v/ill tell against us to the inevitable shorten- 
ing of our days. Through the accumulation 
of small injuries it i.=? that constitutions are 
commordy undermined, aud break down 
long before their time. And if Me call to 
mind how far the average duration of life 
falls below the possible duration we see 
h;)w inunenje is the loss. When to the nu- 
me!0U3 partial deductions which bad health 
entails we add this great final deduction, it 
results that ordinarily more than one half of 
life is thrown away. 

Heirce, knowledge which subserves direct 
se/.f-prcservatiou b}' preventing this loss of 
.health is of primary importance. "We do 
not contentl that possession of such knowl- 
edge wf)rdd by any means wholly remedy the 
evil. F'T it is (dear that in our present phase 
of civilizalirn men's necessities often compel 
them 1^ transgi-ess. Aud it is further clear 
tliat, cvim in the id)sence of such compirl- 
sion, tliLir inclinations would fi-equently lead 
Inrjn, spite cjf their knowledge, to sacrifice 
fuurie good to present gratificali(<n. But we 
do cuuioud that the right knowledge impress- 



EDUCATION: INTELLECTUAL, MORAL, AND PHYSICAL. 



261 



ed ia the right way would effect much ; and 
we further contend Ihat as the laws of health 
must be recognized before they can be fully 
conformed to, the imparting of such knowl- 
edge must precede a more rational living, 
come when that may. We infer that as 
Y:;;jrou3 health and its accompanying high 
spiiits are larger elements of happiness than 
any oilier things whatever, the teaching how 
to maintain them is a teaching th;it yields in 
moment to no other whatever. And there- 
fore we assert th.at such a course (if physi- 
ology as is needful for the comprehension of 
its general triuhs, and tlieir bearings on 
daily conduct, is an all-esseutial part of a ra- 
tional education. 

Strnnge that the assertion should need 
making ! Stranger still thai; it should ueed 
defending ' Yet are tiiere not a few by 
whom such a proposition Vv'iU be received 
with something appioaching to derision. 
Men who would blush if caught saying 
Ipliigenia instead of Iphigenia, or would 
resent as an insult any imputation of igno- 
rance respecting tlio fabkd laboisuf a fabled 
demigod, show nut IJje slightest shame iu 
confessing that they do not know where 
the Eustachian tubes are, v>'hat are tlie 
artions of tlie spinal cord, what is the nor- 
mal rate of pulsation, or how the Jungs are 
inflated. While anxious that their sous 
should be well up in the superstitions of two 
thousand years ago, they care not that th.^y 
should be taught anything about Iho struc- 
ture and functions of their own bodies — nay, 
would even disapprove such instruction. So 
overwhelming is the imiuence of established 
routine ! So terribly in our education does 
the ornamental o^'^enide tiie useful ! 

We noed not insist on the value of that 
knowledge which aids indirect self-preserva- 
tion by facilitating the gaining of a liveli- 
liood. This is admitted by all ; and, indeed, 
hy the mass is perhaps too excusively re- 
garded as the end of educaliun. But while 
every one i'* ready to indorse the abstiact 
propositioQ thiU instruction fitting youths 
for the Iiusiness of jileisof high impoitance, 
or even to consider it of supreme impor- 
tance, ytt seaicely any inquire wluiL instruc- 
tion will so fit tlsem It is true that reading, 
wiiting, and arithmetic are taught with an 
intelligent appreciation of their uses • but 
when we has'e said this we have said nearly 
hII. While the great bulk of what else is 
acquired has no bearing on the industrial ac- 
tivities, an immensity of infaimation that 
has a direct bearing on the iudustiidl activi- 
ties is entirely passed over. 

For, leaving out only some very small 
classes, what are all men employed in? 
They are empkned in the production, prep- 
aration, and dif-tribulion o. <;onunodities. 
And on what does clliciency in the produc- 
tion, preparation, and distribution of com- 
modities depend ? It depends in the use of 
methods hlted to the respictive natures of 
these commodities ; it depends on an ade- 
quate knowledge of their physical, chemical, 
or vital properties, as the cast may be ; that 



is, it depends on science. This order of 
knowledge, which is in great part ignored in 
our school courses, is Iho order of knowl- 
edge underlying the right performance of all 
those processes by which civilized life is 
made possible. Undeniable as is this truth, 
and thrust upon us as- it is at every turn, 
there seems to be no living consciousness of 
it : its very familiarity makes it unregarded. 
To gice due weight to our argument, we 
must, therefore, rcnlize this tiuth to the 
reader by a lapid re-, iew of the facts. 

For all the higher arts of construction, 
some acquaintance with mathematics is in- 
dispensable. The village carpenter, who, 
lacking rational insti notion, lays out his 
woik by empirical rules learned in his ap- 
prenticeship, equally with the builder of a 
Britannia Bridge, makes hourly reference to 
the laws of quantitative relations. The sur- 
veyor on whose survey the land is pur- 
chased ; the architect in designing a mansion 
to be built on it ; the builder in pre()aiing hi.s 
estimates ; his foreman in laying out the 
foundations ; the masons iu cutting the 
stones ; and the various artisans who put up 
the fittings ; are all guided by geometrical 
truths. Railway-making is n gulatea from 
beginning to end by mathematics : alike iu 
the preparation of plans and sections ; in 
staking out the line ; in the mensuration of 
cuttings and tmbankmenis ; ia the design- 
ing, estimating, tmd building of biidges, cul- 
verts, viaducts, tunnel,'-, stations. And sim- 
ilarly with the haibors, docks, piers, and va- 
rious engineering and architectural works 
that fringe the coasts and overspread ihe face 
of the country, as well as the mines that run 
underneath it. Out of geometry, too, as ap- 
plied to a&trouoni}', the art of navigation has 
grown ; and o, by this science, iias been 
made possible that enc rinous foreign com- 
merce which supports a large part of our 
population, and supplies us with many 
necessaries anil moaL of our luxuries. And 
nowadays even the faimcr, for the correct 
liiying cut of his drains, has recourse to the 
level — th;it is, to geometrical principles. 
VVheufiom those divisions of malhematics 
which deal with upace and vtimbei, some 
small smattering of which is given in schools, 
we tuiu to that other division which deals 
with force, of which even a smattering is 
scarcely ever given, we meet with another 
large class of activities which this science 
presides over. On Iheaiiplicationof rational 
mechanics depends the success of nearly all 
modern manufacture. The properties of the 
lever, the wheel and axle, etc., are involved 
in every machine — every machine is a solidi- 
fied mechanical llieorem ; and to machinery 
in these limes we owe nearly all pioiluclion. 
Trace the history of the breakfast-roll. The 
soil out of which it came was diained with 
machine-made tiles ; the surface was turned 
over by a machine ; thcsied was put iu by a 
machine ; the wheat was reaptd, thrashed, and 
winnowed by m.nchines ; by mmhinery it 
was ground and bulled ; and had the flour 
been sent to Gusporl, it might have been 



2«l» 



i:DUCATION: INTELLECTUAL, MORAL, AND PHYSICAL. 



made into biscuits by a machine. Look 
round the mom in which you sit. If mod- 
ern, prohably the bricks in its walls were 
machine-nmde ; by mjichinery llie llooring 
was sawn and planed, llie mantel-shelf sawn 
and polished, the papei -hangings made and 
printed ; the veuttr on the table, the turned 
legs of the chairs, the carpet, the curtains, 
are all prod'.icts of machinery. And your 
clothing — plain, figured, or printed — is ii nf>f 
wholly woven, nay, perhaps even sewed by 
machinery? And the volume you are read- 
ing — are n^u its leaves fabricated by one 
ma(!l)ine and covered vviih these words by an- 
other ? Add to which that for the means of 
distribution over botU laud and sea we are 
similarly imlebted. And then let it be re- 
membered that according as the principles of 
mechanics are well or ill used to these ends 
comes success or failure — individaal and 
national. The engiuijer wlu) misapplies his 
fonnuke for the strength of materials builds 
a bridge that breaks down. Tlie uianufac- 
turer whose apparatus is badly devised can- 
not compete with another whose apparatus 
wastes less in friction and. inertia. The ship- 
buihler, adhering to (he old model, is out- 
sailed by one who buijils on the mechanical!}'- 
justified wave line priuciple. And as the 
ability of a nation to hold its own against 
other nations depends on the skilled activity 
•of its units, we see that oa such knowledge 
may turu the national fate. Judge then the 
worth of mathematics 

Pass next to pliysics. Joined with mathe. 
malics, it has given us the steani-cnii-ine, 
which does ihe v/ork of millions of laborers. 
That section of physics whi^hdeah with Ihe 
lawsof heat has taught us how ij economize 
■fuel in our various industries ; how to in- 
crease the produce of our smelting furnaces 
by substituting the hot for the old blast ; 
liow to ventilate our mines ; how to prevent 
explosions by using the safet3'- lamp ; and, 
through the thermometer, iiow to regulate in 
numerable processes. That division which 
has the phenomeaa of liglit for its subject 
gives eyes to the old and the myopic ; aids 
through t!ie microscope in detecting diseases 
and adulterations; and byimpro/ed liglit- 
Jiouses prevents shipwrecks. Researches in 
■electricity and magnetism have saved incal- 
culable life and property by the compass ; 
diave sul)served sundry aits by the electio- 
(type ; and now, in the tcU'grapIi, have sup ■ 
plied us with the agency by which for tlie 
•future all mercantile transactions wdl be rcg- 
.ulated, political intercourse carried on, and 
perhaps natiouisl quarrels often avoided. 
.While in the details of in-door life, from the 
•improved kitchen-range up to the stereosc;ope 
lOn the drawing-room (able, the applic;itions 
-of advanced pliysics underlie our comforts 
:and gratifications. 

Still more numerous are the bearings of 
chemistry on those activities by which"^mea 
obtaiu the m.-ans of living. The Ideacher, 
the dyer, the calico-printer, are severally oc- 
cupied in procjisses that are well or ill done 
accordiuij as they do or do not conform to 



chemical laws. The economical reductron 
from their ores of copper, tip, zinc, lead, sil- 
ver, iron, are in a great measuie qutstions 
of chemistry. Sugar-refining, gas-making, 
soap-boiliug, gunp.jwder manufacture, are 
operations all partly chemical ; its are also 
tho.se by which are produced glass and por- 
celain. Whether the disUller's wort stops ai 
the alcolKjlic fermentation or passes into the 
acetous is a chemical quesliju on which 
hMigs ids profit or loss ; and the brewer, if 
his business is sutficieotly large, fimls it pay 
to keep a chemist on his premises. Glance 
through a work on technology, and it be- 
comes at once apparent that Ihere is now 
scarcely any process in lh<; arts or manufac- 
tupes over some part of which chemistry doe.s 
not preside. And then, lastly, we ccme to 
the fact that in these limes, agiiculture, lo 
be profitably curried on, must have like guid- 
ance. The analysis of manures and soils; 
their adaptations to each other ; the use of 
gypsum or other substance for fixing am- 
monia ; the utilization of coprolites ; the pro- 
ducti'ju of aililicial manures — all these are 
boons of chemistry which it behooves the 
farmer to acquaint himself with. Ee it in 
Ifhelucifer malcli, or in disinfected sewage, 
or in photographs ; in bread made without 
fermentation, or perfumes extracted from ref- 
irse, we may perceive that chemistry afi'ects 
all our industries, and that. In' (roti.sequence, 
knowledge of it concerns tvcry ime who is 
directly (jr indirtclly connected vi-ith our in- 
dustries. 

And then the science of life — biology : does 
not this, too, bear fundamentally ii})on these 
processes of indoect stlt'-piesei valimi ? 
With what we ordinarily call manufactures, 
it has, indeed, iillle connection ; but with 
the al!-es.seulial manufacture— that of food — 
it is inseparably connected. As agriculture 
must conform its methods to the phenomena 
of vegetable umi animal Hie, it follows neces- 
sarily thai the science of these phenomena is 
the rational basis of agiiculture. Various 
biological tiuths have indi-ed been empiiically 
establishoil and acted up.m by larmers while 
yet there has lieen no conception of them as 
science : such as that parlicuhir manures are 
suited to particular plants ; that crops of cer- 
tain kinds unfit llie soil for other crops ; 
that horses cannot do gootl work on poor 
food ; that such and sucli diseases of cattle 
and sheep are caused i)y such and sucli con- 
ditions. These, and the cvery-day knowledge 
which the agriculturist gains by experience 
respecting tae right maniigcment of plants 
and animals, constitute his stock of biologi- 
cal facts, on the lai-gencss of which greatly 
depends his .success. Anl as these biologi- 
cal facts, scanty, inddinite. ruilinicntary 
though they are, aidium s > cs.sentially, judge 
what must be the value lo him of such facts 
when they i)i'(;oi:ie posiliv( , definite, and ex- 
haustive. Indeed, evi n now we may see the 
benefits that lationii b;. 1 jgy is conferring on 
him. The truth that the proiluctiou of ani- 
mal heat implies waste of sub.«lance, and 
♦'^•^1.. therefoie, preveutiag loss of heat pre- 



EDUCATION- INTELLECTUAL, JTORAL, AND PHYSICAL. 



208 



vents the need for extra food — a purely the- 
oretical conclusion — now guides Uie fatten- 
ing of cuttle : it is found tliiit by keeping cat- 
tle warm fodder is saved. Similarly with 
respect t> variety of food. The experiments 
of physiologists have shown that not only is 
change of diet beneficial, but that digestion 
is facilitated by a mixturi3 of iugiedienls in 
each meal : b ith which truths aie now in- 
fluencing cattle-feeding. The discovery that 
a disorder known as "the staggers," of 
which many thousands of sheep have died 
annually, is caused by an entoznou which 
presses on the brain, aud that if the creature 
is extracted through the softened place in the 
skull which marks its position the sheep 
usually recovers, is another debt which 
agriculture owes to biology. When we ob- 
serve the marked contrast between our farm- 
ing and farming on the Continent, aud re- 
member that lliis contrast is mainly due to the 
far greater iutlueuce science has had upon 
farming hero than there ; and vvIku we see 
how, daily, competition is making the adop- 
tion of scientific methods more general aud 
necessary ; we shall rightly infer, that veiy 
soon agiiculLural success in Eugluud will bo 
impossible without a comi)L'tenl knowledge 
of animal and vegetal)le physiology. 

Yet one more science have we to note as 
bearing directly on industrial success— the 
Science of Society. Without knowing it, 
men who daily look at the state of the money- 
market, glance over prices cuirent, discuss 
the probable crops of corn, cotton, sugur, 
wool, silk, weigh the chances of war, and 
from all those data decide on their mercantile 
operations, are students ol: social science : 
empirical and blundering stiidimls it may 
be, but still students who gain the prizes or 
are plucked of Ibeir profits according as they 
do or do n!)t reach the right ccaiclusiou. 
Not only tlie manufacturer and the merchant 
must guide their tiansactions by calculations 
of supply and demand, based on uumeious 
facts, and tacitly recognizing sundry general 
piinciples of social action, but even tlie re- 
tailer must do the like : his prosperity very 
greatly depending upon the coriectness of 
his judgments respecting the future whole- 
sale pi ices and the fuLuie rates of consump- 
tion. Mauifestly, all who take part in the 
entangled commercial activities of a commu- 
n\ty are vitally interested in understanding 
the laws according to which those activities 
vary. 

Tlius, to all such as ai-e occupied in the 
production, exthaasge, or distribution of com- 
modiiies, acquaintance with science in some 
of lis depurtnunts is of fundamental impor- 
tance. Whoever is immediately or remotely 
implicated in any form ut industry (and few 
are not) has a direct iulenst in understanding 
something of the nKUhemalical, physical, 
flnd chemical propeitics of things ; peibaps, 
also, has a diitct iiittiest in biology ; and 
certainly has in sociology. Wlieiherhe does 
or does not succeed well in tliat indirect self- 
picscrvatiou which we call getting a good 
livelihood depends in a great" degree on his 



knowledge of one or more of these sciences : 
not, it may be. a rational knowledge, but 
fitill a knowledge, though empirical. For 
what we call learning a business really im- 
plies learning the science involved in it, 
though not perhaps under the name of sci- 
ence. And hence a giounding in science is 
of great importance, both because it prepares 
for all this, and because rational knowledge 
has an immense superiority over empirical 
knowdedge. Moreover, not only is it that 
scientific culture is requisite fore ach, that he 
may undei stand the how and the why of the 
things and pi ocesses with which lie is con- 
cerned as maker or distiibutor, but it is 
often of much moment that he should under- 
stand the hcnc and the why of various other 
things and processes. In this age of joint- 
stock undertakings, nearl}' every man above 
the laborer is interested as capitalist in some 
otht^r occupation than his own ; and, as thus 
interested, his profil or loss often depends on 
his knowledge of the sciences bearing on this 
other occupation. Here is a mine, in the 
sinking of which many shaieholders ruined 
themselves, from not knowing that a certain 
fossil belonged to the old red sandstone, be- 
low which no coal is found. Not many 
years ago 20,0t;O/. was Irst in the prosecu- 
tion of a scheme for collecting the alcohol 
that distils from bread in baking, all which 
would have been saved to the subscribers 
had they known that less than a hundredth 
part by weight of the flou is changed in fer- 
mentation. Numerous attempts have been 
made to consti uct electromagnetic engines, 
In the hope of supeiseding steam ; but had 
those who supplied the money understood 
the geneial law of the correlation and equiva- 
lence of forces the}' might have hau better 
balances at their bankeis. Daily are men in- 
duced to aid in carrying out inventions which 
a mere lyro in science could show to be fu- 
tile. Scarcely a locality but has its history 
of fortunes thrown away over simie impossi- 
ble project. 

Aud if already the loss from want of sci- 
ence is so frequent aud so great, still greater 
andmoie frequent will it be to those who 
heieafter lack science. Just as fast as pro- 
ductive processes become more scienlitic, 
which competition will inevitably make them 
do, aud just as fast as joint-stock undertak- 
ings s[iread, which they ccitainly will, so 
fast will scientific knowledge grow necessary 
to every one. 

Th.,t which our school :mrscs leave al- 
most entirely out, we thiio find to be that 
■which most nearly com erns the business of 
life. All our industiies would cease were it 
not for that information which men begin to 
acquire as Ihey best may after their educatioq 
is said to be finished. Aud were it not for 
this information, that has been from age to 
age accumulated aud spread by uuothcial 
means, these industries would never have ex- 
isteel. Had there been no teaching but sucb 
as is given in our public schools, EnglaneJ 
would now be what it was in feudal times. 
That increasing acquaintance with the laws 



964 



EDUCATION: INTELLT.CTUAL, MORAL, AND PHYSICAI* 



of phenomena whkli has {hrouiTh Huccessive 
atrt s eiJiihled us to subjugate nature In our 
utcds, and in these days gives the common 
laborer comforts which a fivv centuries :igo 
kins^s could not purchase, is scarcely iu any 
dc<;ieeo\ved to the appointed means of in- 
stiucting our youth. Tlie vital Iviinwledgo 
— tiiat l)y which we have Erruwii as a nation 
to wliat we are, and which now undeilies 
our whole existence — is a {knowledge that htis 
got itself taught iu nooks and conieis, while 
the ordaiaed agencies for teaching have been 
munil)liDg little else but dead formulas. 

"We colli'! now to the third great division 
of human activities — a diviaionfor which no 
preparation whatever is made. If l)y some 
strange chance not a veslige of us descended 
to the remote future save a pile of our 
school-books or some college examination 
papers, we may imagine how puzzled an .an- 
tiquary of the period would be on finding in 
them no indication that the learners were ever 
likely to be parents. " This must have been 
the curriculum for their celibates," we may 
fancy him concluding. " I perceive here an 
elaborate preparation for many things, es- 
pecially for reading tlie books of extinct na- 
tions and of co-existing nations (from which 
indeed it seems clear that these people had 
very little worth reading in their own 
tongue) ; but I find no reference wiiatever to 
the bringing up of children. They could 
not have been so absurd as to omit all tiain- 
ing for this gravest of responsibilities. Evi- 
dently then tliis was the school cour.se of 
cue of their monastic orders." 

Seriously, is it not an astonishing fact, 
that though on the treatment of offspring de- 
pend their lives or deaths, and their moral 
welfare or ruin, yet not one word of instruc- 
tion on the treatment of offspring is ever giv- 
en to those who will hereafter be parents? 
Is it not monstrou? that the fate of a new 
generation should be left to the chances of 
unreasoning custom, impulse, fancy, joined 
with the suggestions of ignorant nurses and 
the prejudiced counsel of grandmothers ? If 
a merchant commenced business without any 
knowledge of arithmetic and book-keeping, 
we should exclaim at his folly and look foi 
disaslK"ous couseqnences. Or if, before stud}'- 
ing anatomy, a man set up as a surgical 
operator, vre shouM wonder at his audacity 
and pity his patients. But tliat parents 
should begin the diflicidt task of rearing chil- 
dren witiniit ever h:iv!!ig given a thought lo 
the principles— physical, moral, or iulLllec- 
tual — which oughi, to guide them, excites 
neither surprise at the aclois nor pity for 
their victims. 

To tens of thousands that are kilh-d, add 
hundreds of tliousands that survive with 
feeble cxmstitutions, and millions that giow 
up with constitutions not so strong as they 
should be, and you will have some idea of 
the curse inflicted on their olTspriag by par- 
ents ignorant of the laws of life. l5o but 
consider for a moment that the regimen to 
which children are subject is hoaily telling 
upon them to their lifelong injury or bene- 



fit, au'l that there are twenty ways of going 
wrong to one way (jf going right, and you 
will get smi! idea of the euol-mous mischief 
that IS almost everywhere inflicted by the 
thoughtless, haph.iziird system in commoa 
use. Is it d^cidjJ tliaf a boy shall be clothed- 
in .some tiioisy short dress, and 1)3 allowed to 
go playing about with limbs reddened by 
cold? Tiie decision will tell on his whole 
future exislence— either in illnesses, or in 
stunted growth, or in deficient energy, or 
in a maturity le-;s vigorous thin it ought to 
have been, and consequent hindrances to 
success and happiness. Are children doomed 
to a monotonous dietary, or a dietary that is 
deficient in nutritiveness ? Their ultimate 
physical power, and their efficiency as men 
and women, will inevitably be more or less 
diminished by it. Are they forbidden vocif- 
erous play, or (being too ill-clothed to bear ex- 
posure) are they kept indoors in cold weath- 
er ? They are certain to fall below that meas- 
ure of health and strength to which they 
would else have attained. When sons ani 
daughters grow up sickly and feeble, parents 
commonly regard the event a^ amisfoitiine — 
as a visitation of Providence. Thinking aftOT 
the preva'ent chaotic fashion, they assume 
that these evils come without causes, or 
that the causes are supernatural. Ncthing 
of the kind. In some cases the causes are 
doubtless inherited, but in most cases fool- 
ish regulations are the causes. Very gen- 
erally parents themselves are responsible for , 
all this pain, this debility, this depression, 
this misery. Tiiey have imdertaken to con- 
trol the lives of their offspring fiom hour to 
hour ; with cruel carelessness they have neg- 
lected to learn anything about these vital 
pi'ocesses which they are unceasingly affect- 
ing by their commands and prohibitions ; in 
utter ignorance of the simplest physiologic 
laws, they have been year by year uudei min- 
ing the constitutions of their children, and 
have so inflicted disease and premature death, 
not only on them but on their descendanls. 

Equally great are the ignorance and the 
consequent injury, v/henwe turn from physi- 
cal training to moral training. Consider 
the young mother and her nurst-ry legislation. 
But a few 3 ears ago she was at school, wiiere 
her memory was crammed with words and 
names and dates, and her rt-lleclive faculties 
scarcely in the siighlest degree exercised — 
where not one idea was given her rospocling 
the methods of dealing with the opening 
mind of childhood, and where her disci- 
pline did not in the least fit her for thinking 
out methods of iu r own. The intervening 
years have been passed in practising music, 
in fancy-work, in novel-reading, and in parly- 
going : no thought having yd been given to 
the grave responsibilities of matermlj', and 
scarcely any of that solid inlelle^clual culture 
obtained which would be some preparation 
for such responsibilities. And now see her 
with an unfolding human character commit- 
ted to her charge — see her profoundly igno- 
rant of the phenomena with v;hieh she has to 
deal, uudertakina: to do that which can be 



EDUCATION. INTELLECTUAL, MORAL. AND PHYSICAL. 



265 



done but imperfeclly even with the f:id cf the 
profouudcst kiiowludge. She knows uoth- 
ing nbout the nature of the ctuolions, tlieir 
Older of t-vohitiou, ihtir functions, tr whtre 
use ends nndiil)ns(' ht-gins. Slie is under the 
impression that some of tlie feelings are 
wlioily had, vrhich is n'.l true of any one of 
them ; and that others fire good, hoyvever far 
tiiey m.iy tie carried, whicn is also not true 
of any cno of them. And then, ignorant as 
slie is of that with which she has to deal, she 
is equally ignorant of the efi'ecls that will be 
produced on it by this (;r that treatment. 
What can be more inevitable than the disas- 
trous results we see houtly arising? Lack- 
ing knowledge of menial phenomena, witli 
their causes and const (juences, her interfer- 
ence is frequently more mischievous than ab- 
solute i)as8ivity would have been. This and 
th:it kind of action, which aie quite normal 
and beneficial, she perpe'.ualiy thwarts, and 
10 diminishes the cliild's happiness and prof- 
it, injures its temper an 1 Jier own, and pro- 
duces estrangement. Deeds which she thinks 
it desirable to encourage she gets performed 
by threats and bribts, or by exciting a desire 
for applause, cnnsidciing little what the in 
ward motive ma3' be, so long as the outward 
conduct conforms, and thus cultivating hy- 
pocrisy, and fear, andseliisliness, in place of 
g'ood feeling. AVliile insisting on truiliful- 
ness, she coustanily sets an example of un- 
truth, by threatening penalties wiiich she 
does not inflict. While inculcating self-con- 
trol, she hourly visits rm her little ones angry 
scoldings for acts that do not call for them. 
She has not the remotest idea that [n the 
nursery, as in the world, that alone is the 
truly salutary discipline which visits on all 
conduct, good and bad, the natural conse- 
quences — tlie consequences, pleasurable or 
painful, which in the nature of things such 
conduct tends to bring. Being thus without 
theoretic guidance, and quite incapable of 
guiding herself by tracing the mental pro- 
cesses going on in her children, her rule :3 
impulsive, inconsistent, mi.schievous, often 
in the highest degiee ; and w;;uld indeed be- 
generally ruinous, weie it nut tlnit the over- 
whelraing tendency ol the growing mind to 
assume tlie moral ty[ie of "tlie rac-e usually 
subordinates all mirior influences. 

And then the culture of the intellect— is 
nut this, too, mismanaged in a similar man- 
ner? Grant that the phenomena of intelli- 
gence coidorm to laws ; grant that the evo- 
lution of intelligence in a cliild also conforms 
to laws, and it fcUows inevitably that educa- 
tion can be rightly guided only by a knowl- 
edge of these laws To suppo.se that you can 
properly regulate this process of forming and 
accumuialiug ideas without undeislunding 
the nature of the process is absurd. How 
widely, '.hen, must teaching as it is dilTer 
from leaciiing as it sliould be ; when hardly 
any parents, and "lut few teachers, know any- 
thing about psychology. As might be ex- 
pected, the system is grievously' at fault, 
alike in mattc-r and in manner. While the 
right class of facts is withheld, the wrouoc 



class is forcibly administered in the wrong 
way and in the wrong order. With that 
common Umited idea of education which 
confines it to knowledge gained from books, 
parents thiust primers into the hands of their 
little ones years too soon, to their great in- 
jury. Not recognizing the truth ""that the 
function of books is supplementary- -that 
they form an indirect means to knovv-ledgo 
when direct means fail— a means of seeing 
through other men what you cannot see for 
yourself, they are eager to give second-hand 
facts in place of fir.sthand facts. Not per- 
ceiving the enormous vjducof that spontane- 
ous eaucalion which goes on in ca ly yeais 
—not perceiving that a child's restless ob- 
servation, instead of being ignored or 
checked, should be diligeully aclministered 
to, and made as accurate and complete a? 
possible, they insist on occupying its eyes 
and thoughts witir things that" are, for the. 
time being, incomprelu:nsil)]e and repugnant. 
Possessed by a superstition which worships 
the symbols of knowledge instead of the 
knowledge itself, the}' d > not see that only 
when his acquaintance with the objects and 
processes of the household, the streets, and 
the fields, is becoming tolerably exhaustive 
— only then should a child be inl reduced to 
the new sources of information which hooka 
supply ; and this, not only because imrao 
diate cognition is of far greater value than 
mediate (•(.gnition, but also because the, 
words contained in books can be riuhtly in- 
terpreted into ideas only in propoltiou to 
the antecedent experience of things. Ob- 
serve next that this formal instruction, far 
too soon commenced, is carried on with but 
little reference to the laws of mental develop- 
ment. Intellectual progress is of necessity 
from the ciuicrete to the abstract. But re- 
gaidkss of this, highly abstract subjects, 
such as gramniiu-, which sliould cr>me quite 
late, are begun quite early. Pohiicul geog- 
raphy, dead anfi uninteresting to a child, and 
which should b^ lu appendage of socicdogi- 
cal studies, is commenced betimes, wliile 
physical geography, comprehensible and 
comparatively r.ttructivetoachild, is in great 
part passed over. Nearly every subject dealt 
with is arianged in abnormal ort'.er : defi- 
nitions and rules and principles being put 
fiist, instead of being disclosed, as they are 
in the oider of natuie, through the study of 
cases. And then pervading the whole is 
the viciiitis system of rote learning — a system 
of sacrificing the spiiii to the letter. See tin 
results. What with perceptions unnaturally 
dulled bjr early thwarting, and a coerced at- 
tention to liooks ; what with the mental con- 
fusion produced by teaching subjects before 
they can by understood, and in e-ach of them 
giving generalizations before the facts of 
whicii tl'pse are the generalizations ; what 
with making the jiupil a meie passive recip- 
ient of others' ideas, and not in the least lead- 
ing him to be an active inquirer or self-in- 
structor ; and what with taxing the faculiies 
to e.vcers, there are very few minds that be 
come as edicient as they migiil be. Exami- 



363 



EDUCATIOX: INTELLECTUAL. MORAL, AND PHYSICAL. 



nations being once passed, books are laid 
aside ; Ihe greater part of what lias been ac- 
quired, being unorganized, soon drops out of 
recollection ; what remains is raostlv inert — 
the art of applying knowledge noi having 
been cultivated — and there is but liule power 
either of accurate ol)servalion or independent 
thinking. To all which add that while 
much of the information gained is of rela- 
tively small value, an immense mass of in- 
formation of transcendent value is entirely 
passed over. 

Thus we find the facts to be such as might 
have been inferred d priori. The training of 
children — physical, moral, and intellectual — ■ 
is dreadfully defective. And in great meas- 
ure it is so because parents are devoid of 
that knowledge by which this training can 
alone be rigluly guided. What is to be ex- 
pected v.'hen one of tire m(>st intricate of 
problems is undertaken by those who have 
given scarcely a thought t>) the principles on 
which its solution depends ? For ehue-mak- 
ing or house-building, for the mnnngement 
of a ship or a locoinoLive-ensjine, a long ap- 
preuticesliip is needf.d. Is it, then, that the 
nnfalding of a human being in body and 
mmd is so comparatively simple a process 
that any one may supeiintend and regulate it 
with no preparation whatever? If not — if 
the process is with one ex<;epLion more com- 
plex than any in nature, and Ihe task of ad- 
ministering to it one of surpassing difficulty 
— is it not madness to make no provision for 
such a ta>k? Better sacrifice accomplish- 
ments than omit this all-essential instruc- 
tion. Wlien a father, acting on false dogmas 
adopted witliout examination, has alienated 
his sins, driven them into rebellion by his 
liarsii treatment, ruiucvl them, and made him- 
self miseral)le, lie might redect tliat the 
study of Ethology would have been worth 
pursuing, even at the cost of knowing noth- 
ing about JE-iehylus. When a mother is 
mourning over a tirst-born that has sunk un- 
der the sequeUe of scat let fever — v hen per- 
haps a candid medical man has confirmed her 
suspicion that her child would have recovered 
had not its system been enfeebled by over- 
study — when she is i)roslrale under the pangs 
of combine<l giief and remorse, it is but a 
small consolation that she can read Dante in 
the original. 

Thus we see that for regulating the tlurd 
great division of human activities a knowl- 
edge of the laws of life is the one thing need- 
ful. S.)me acqu;uulance with the first 
principles of physiology and the elementary 
truths of psychology is indispensable for the 
rigiit bringing up of children. We doubt 
not that this assertion will by many be read 
with a smile. Thatparcnis in general should 
be expectCkl to acquire a kn )wledge of sub- 
jects so abstruse will seem to them an ab- 
surdity. And if we proposed that an ex- 
hausiive knowledge of these subjects should 
be obtain'xi by all fathers an 1 motheis, the 
absurdity would indeed be gla'ing enough. 
But we tlo not. General priucip'es only, ac- 
companied by such detailed illustrations as 



may be needed to make them understood, 
wo'dd sutiice. And these inight be readily 
taught — if not rationally, then dogtiiatieally. 
Be this as it may, however, here are the in- 
di«()utal»le facts : that the development of 
children in mind and body rigorously obeys 
certain laws ; that unless the^e laws are in 
some degree conformed to by pn rents cieath 
is inevital)le ; that unless they are in a great 
degree conformed to there must result seri- 
ous physical and mental defects ; and that 
only when they are completely conformed 
to can a perfect maiurity be reached. 
Judge, then, whether all who may ()ne day 
be parents should not strive with some 
anxiety to learn what these laws are. 

From the parental functions let us pass 
now to the functions of the cilize'j. We 
have here to inquire what knowledge be.st 
fits a man for the discharge of tliese func- 
tions. It cannot be alleged, as in the Iiis-t 
case, that the need for knowledge tilling him 
for these functions is wholly ovei looked ; 
for our school courses contain certain stud- 
ies which, nominally at least, bear npon 
political and social duties. Of these the only 
one that occupies a prominent place is his- 
tory. 

But, as already more than once hinted, 
the historic information commonly given is 
almost valueless for purposes of guidance. 
Scarcely any of the facts set down in our 
school-histories, and very few even of those 
contained in the more elaborate works writ- 
ten for adults, give any clev/ to the right 
principles of political action. The biogra- 
phies of monaichs (and our children com- 
monly leain little else) throw scarcely any 
light upon the science of society. Familiar- 
iiy with c(mrt intrigues, plots, usurpations, 
or the like, and with all the personalities ac- 
compaujdngthem, aids very little in elucidat- 
ing the principles on which national welfare 
depends. We read of some squabble for 
power, that it led to a pitched battle ; that 
Rueh and such were the names of the generals 
and their leading sul)ordinates ; that they 
had each so many thousand infantry and 
cavalry, and so many cannon ; that ihey ar- 
ranged their forces in this and that order ; 
that diey manoeuvred, attacked, and fell back 
in certain ways ; that at this pait of the day 
such disasters were sustained, and at that 
such advantages gained ; that in one partic- 
ular movement some leading ollicer fell, 
while in another a certain regiment was deci- 
mated ; that after all the changing for- 
tunes of the fight, the victory was gained by 
this or that army ; and that so many were 
killed and wounded on each side, and so 
many captured by the conquerors. And 
now, cut of the accumulated details which 
j.-iake up the narrative, say which it is that 
beljjs you in deciding on your conduct as a 
citizen. Supposing even that you had dili- 
gently read, not only " The Fifteen Decisive 
I'attles of the Woikl,*' but f ccomits of all 
ether battles that history mentions, how 
much more judicious would your vole be at 
ilie next election ? " But these are facts — in- 



EDUCATION- INTELLECTUAL, MORAL, AND PHYSICAL. 



267 



leresti'ng facts," you say. Witbout doubt 
tliey are facts (such, at least, as are not 
"wholly or parlially fictions), and to many 
llicy may be interesting facts. But this by 
no means implies that they are valuable. 
Facliiious or morbid opinion often gives 
peeming value to things that have scarcely 
an}'. A tulipomaniac 'svill not part with a 
choice bulb for its weight in gi-.jd. To an- 
olher man an ugly piece of ciackcd old china 
eeems liis most desiiable possession. And 
there are those who give higli piicesforthe 
relics or celebrated murderers. Will it be 
conlcnded that these tastes are any meas- 
ures of value in the things that gratify them? 
If not, then it must be admitted that the lik- 
ing felt for certain classes of historical factsis 
no [trnof of their worth, and that we must 
lest their worth as we test the worth of other 
facts, by asking to what uses they are appli- 
, cable. Were some one to tell you that your 
neighbor's cat kittened .yesterday, you would 
say the information was worthless. Fact 
though it might be, you would say it was aa 
utterly useless fact— a fact that could in no 
way infiiience your actions ni life — a fact 
tliat would not help you in learning how to 
live completely. Well, apply the same test 
to the great mass of historical facts, and you 
will get the same lesult. They are facts from 
which no conclusions can be diawn — iinor- 
ganizable facts, and therefore facts which 
can be of 'no .service in establishing princi- 
ples of conduct, which is the chief use of 
facts. Read them, if you like, for amuse- 
ment, but do not flatter yourself they are in- 
structive. 

That which constitutes history, properly 
so called, is in great part omitted from works 
on the subject. (July of lale years have his- 
torians conmjenced giving us, in any cousid- 
eiable cpiantity, the truly valuable iuforma- 
tion. As in past ages the king was every- 
thing and the people nothing, so in past his- 
tories the doings of the kuig fill the entire 
picture to which the; national life forms but 
an obscure backgiouud. While only now, 
when the weltare of nations rather than of 
rulers is becoming the dominant idea, afehis- 
toriai's beginning to occupy themselves with 
the phenomena of social progiess. That 
which it really concerns us to know is the 
natural history of society. We want all 
facts which help us to undei stand how a 
nation lias grown and organized itself. 
Among these, let us of course have an ac- 
count of its government, with as little as 
may be of g()s.-;ip about the men who o3i- 
ceied it, and as much as possible about the 
fctruclure, principles, methods, prejudices, 
corruptions, etc., which it exhibited ; and let 
this account not only include the nature and 
actions of llie cential government, but also 
those of local governments, down to their 
minutest lamilications. Let us of course 
also have a parallel description of the eccle- 
siastical government — its oiganizalion, its 
conduct, lis power, its relations to the state ; 
and accompanying this, the ceremonial, 
creed, and religious ideas— not only Ihijse 



nominally believed, but those really believed 
and acted upon. Let us at the same time be 
informed of the ccutrcJ cxejciscd by class 
over class, as displayed in all social obser- 
vances — in titles, salutations, and forms of 
address. Let us know, toy, wiuit were all 
the other customs which regulated the popu- 
lar lile out of do:^rs and in-doors, including 
those whch concern the relations of the 
sexes, and the relations of parents to chil- 
dren. The supeisliticns, also, from the mnre 
important my;hs down to Ihc charras in com- 
mtm use, should be indicated. Next should 
come a delineation of llje industrial system, 
showing to what extent the division of labor 
was carried ; hew trades were regulated, 
whether by caste, guilds, or otlicrwise ; what 
was the connection betvvccu employers and 
employed ; what were the agencies for dis- 
tributing commodities, what wcie the means 
of communication ; what was the circulating 
medium. Accompanying all which should 
come an account of the industrial arts tech- 
nically considered, stating the processes in 
use, and the ciuality of the piodurls. Fur- 
ther, the intellectual condition of the nation 
in its various grades should be depicted, not 
only with respect to the kind and amount of 
educalicn, but with rt spect to the progress 
made in science, and the prevailing manner 
of thinkuig. The degiee of a;slhctic culture, 
as displayed in architecture, sculpture, paint- 
ing, dress, music, poetry, and fiction, should 
be described. Nor should there be omitted 
a sketch of the daily lives of the people — 
their food, their homes, and their amuse- 
ments. And lastly, to connect the whole, 
should be exhibited the morals, theoretical and 
practical, rf all classes, as indicated in their 
laws, habits, proveibs, deeds. All these 
facts, given with as much brevity as consists 
with cleaiuess and accuracy, should be so 
grouped and arranged that lliey may be com- 
prehended in the r f/iSfj^Wf, and thus may be 
contemplated as mutually dependent pans of 
one great whi.lc. The aim should be so to pre- 
sent them that we may readily trace the con- 
gensus i\ih>\&{'mg, among them, with the view 
of learning what social phenomena co-exist 
with what otheis. And llun the correspond- 
ing delineations of succeeding ages should be 
so managed as to show us, as cltarly as may 
be, how each belief, institution, custom, and 
arrangement was mr niiied, aucl how the cmi- 
sensuH of preceding stiuclurcs and functions 
was developed into the conaeiisua of succeed- 
ing ones. Such alone is the kind of informa- 
tion respecting past times which can be of 
service to the citizen for the icgulatiou of his 
conduct. The onh' history that is of prac- 
tical value is what may be called Descriptive 
Sociology. And the highest otlice which the 
historian can discharge is that of so nai rat- 
ing the lives of natiruis as to furnish male- 
rials for a Cumjtarative Sociology, and for the 
subsequent di-leiiuMiation of the ultimate 
laws to which social ptienoniena conform. 

But now mark, that even supposing an ad- 
equate stock of this truly valuable historical 
kuowlwdge has been acquired, it is of com- 



263 



EDCCATION: INTELLECTUAL. .MOr.AL, AND PHYSICAL 



paraliwly little mo witli val thv; kjy. And 
the key i.s to l)o f'niiid nnly in sciencj. 
Witliout an uf.qiiuintHn.e with IIk^ general 
truths of biolo/jjy mid p^ycliLlD^/, i;itii.;j;il iu- 
terpretatiou of social phi'uoin-'n-i is impossi- 
ble. Oul}' in pixtportioii as ni^ii obUtui ti 
certain rude cnipirical knowledge of h;uiiau 
nature are they enabled to understand e\'cn 
the simplest facts of social life, as, for in- 
stance, the relation between supply and de- 
mand. And if not e7cn the most elementary 
truths of sociology can be reached until some 
knowledge is obtained of how nien gem^-ally 
think, feel, and act under given circum- 
stances, then it is manifrst tiiat th?re can be 
nothing like a wide comprehension of soci- 
ology unless through a competent kn.iwledgo 
of man in all his faculties, bodiiy an I iriSa- 
tal. Consider the malter in the absliact, and 
this conclusion is self-evident. Tlius : So- 
ciety is made up of individuals ; all that 
is d.ine in sociel\^ is done by tiie combined 
actions of individuals ; and ihcrefore in in- 
dividual actions only can be found the solu- 
tii)ns of social phenomena. But t!ie a.:tions 
of individuals dt^peud on tlie laws of their 
natures, and their actions cann )t be under- 
stood until these laws a:v uadeistood. 
Tiiese laws, however, when reducetl to their 
simplest expression, are found to dep'u.i on 
the lavvs of body and mind in general. 
Honce it necessardy follows that biology 
and psychology are indispensable as inter-; 
preters of sociology. Or, to state the conclu-' 
sions still more simply : all social plieaomena 
are phenomena of life, are the most ci)mpiex- 
manifestations of life, are ultimately depend- 
ent on the laws of life, and can l)e under- 
stood only when the laws of lite are under- 
stood. Thus, then, we see that for the regu- 
lation of this fourth division of human ac- 
tivities we are, us before, dei)endent on 
science. Of the knowledge commonly im- 
parted in eilm'ational couises very little is of 
any service in guiding a man in iiis conduct 
as a citizen. Only a small part of the history 
he reads is of practical value, and of this 
small part he is not prepared to make proper 
use. He commonly lacks not only the ma- 
terials for, but the very conception of, de- 
scriptive sociology; and he also lacks tliat 
knowledge of the organic sciences, without 
which even descriptive sociology cau give 
him but little aid. 

And now we come to that remaining di- 
vision or human life which incluiles the relax- 
ations, pleasures, and amusements tiding lei- 
sure hours. After considering what training 
best tits for self preservation, for the obiain- 
meut of sustenance, for the discdiarge of pa- 
rental duties, and for the regulation of social 
ami political conduct, we have now to con- 
sider what ti-ainiiiir be.«t fits for the miscel- 
laneous ends not included in these— for the 
enjoyments of nature, of literature, and of 
the tine arts, in all their forms. Postpon- 
ing them as we do to things that bear more 
vitally up m human welfare, and biinging 
everything, as we have, to (he lest of actual 
?aiue, it will perhaps be inferred that we 



are inclined to slight these less essential 
things. JMo greater mistake could be made, 
however. We yield to none inthe value we 
attacli to iesthetic culture and its jileasures. 
Wilhuut painting, sculpture, music, poetry, 
and the emotions produced by natural beauiy 
of every kind, life would lose half its charm. 
So far from thinking that the training and 
gratification of the tastes are unimportant, 
we believe the time will come when they will 
occupy a much larger share of human life 
than now. When the forces of nature have 
been fully conquered to man's Use — when 
the means of production have been broujfht 
to perfection — when labor has been econo- 
mized to the highest degree — when education 
has been so systematized that a prepiiration 
for the more essential activities may be mads 
with comparative rapidity— and when, con- 
sequently, there is a great increase of spare 
time, then will the poetry, both of art and 
nature, rightly till a large space in the minds 
of all. 

But it is one thing to admit that ajsthefic 
culture is in a high degree conducive to hu- 
man ha[)piness, and another thintr to admit 
that it is a fundamental requisite to human 
happiness. However important it may be. it 
must jdeld jiiecedence to those kinds of cul- 
ture which bear more directly upun the duties 
of life. As before hinted, literature and the 
line arts are made possible by those activities 
which make individual and social liie possi- 
ble ; and manifestly, that which is made pos- 
sible must be postponed to that which makes 
it possible. A florist cultivates a plant for 
the sake of its flower, anil regards the roots 
and leaves as of value chiefly because they 
are instrumental in producing the flower. 
But while, as an ultimate product, the flower 
is the thing to which everything else is sub 
ordinate, the florist very well knows that the 
root ami leaves are intrinsically of greater 
importance, because on tliem the evolution 
of the tio^'^er depends. He IksIows every 
care in rearing a healthy plant, and knows 
it would be fully if, in his anxiety to oi'lain 
the flower, he were to neglect the plant. 
Simihirly in the case before us. Architec- 
ture, sculpture, painting, music, poetry, etc., 
may be-truly calkd the tflloresccnce of civil- 
ized life. But even supposing them to be 
of such transcendent woith as to suboidinate 
the civilized life out of which tiiey grow 
(whicii can hardly be asserted), it wdl siill 
be admitted that Ihe production of a healthy 
civilized life must be the first consideiatiim, 
and that the knowledge conducing to this 
must occupy the highest place. 

And heie we seeniost distinctly the vice 
of our educational system. It neglects the 
plant for the sake of "the flower. In anxiety 
for elegance it forgets substance. While it 
gives no knowledge conducive to self-prcs- 
ervaticn — whi'e of knowledge that facili- 
tates gaining a livilihnod it gives but the 
rudiments, and leaves the greater part to be 
picked u[i anyhow in after life — while for 
the discharge of parental functions it makes 
not the slightest provision — and while for the 



EDUCATION: INTELLECTUAL, T^lOIiAL. AND PHYSICAL. 



009 



duties of cilizeusliip it jveparcs by imparliug 
a muss i.f fucus, mo.st of wliicli aic irn levant, 
and tlio icit willio^t a key, il is diligent in 
leaching cvcrytliing tbul adds to ie(inemLUt, 
polish, eehit. Hnwi'Ver fully \vc may admit 
that extensive ucquaintnuee with modern 
languages is a valuable aceoniidishment, 
which, Ihiough rending, conversation, and 
Iravei, aids m giving a certain finish, it by 
no means follows that this result is rightly 
pur( based at the cost of that vitally inipor- 
taut kuuwlc'dge sacrificed to it. Supposing it 
true that cla.ssical education c(>uduces to ele- 
gance and correctness of style, it cannot he 
suiu thai elegance and correctness of style ai'e 
comparable in importance to a familiarity 
with the principles that should guide the 
rearing of chiKlren. Grant that the taste 
may Ije greatly imi)roved by rending all the 
poetry wiiilen in extinct languages, yet it is 
not to be inferred that such improvement of 
taste is ecpiivalent in value to an acquaint- 
ance with t!ie laws of health. Accomplish- 
ments, the tine arts, bellea-ltltres, and all those 
things whieh. as v/e say, constitute the elilo- 
lesceuf-e of civilization, should be wholly 
subordinate to thai knowledge and discipline 
in which ci»vilization rests. A,^ they occupy 
the leiavre fin.ri of life, so should they occupy 
the leisure j/urt (f educalion. 

Recognizing thus the true position of aes- 
thetics, and holding that while the cultiva- 
tion of them should form a part of educntion 
from its commeneemenl, such cultivation 
ehould be subsidiary, we have now to in- 
quire wliat knowledge is of most use to 
this eud--wdial knowledge best tils for this 
remainmg sphere of activity. To this ques- 
tion the ansvv'er is still the t«me as hereto- 
fore. UncNpected as the a.-serlion may be, 
it is nevertheless true, that the highest art of 
every kind is based upon science — that with- 
out science there can be neither perfect pro- 
duction nor full tipiircciation. Science, in 
that limited tecluii(al acceptation current in 
socitty, may not have bien possessed by 
many artists of high rii)ute ; but acute ob- 
servers as they have been, they have always 
possessed a sicck (;f those empirical generali- 
zations which constitute science in its lowest 
phase, and they have halatuiilly fallen far 
below peritciion, pj.rtly because their gener- 
alizations were comparatively few and inac- 
curate. That science neccssaiily underlies 
the fine arts becomes manifest uprioH when 
we rtmimber that art-|)ioiiucts aieall more 
or less repicsentative of objective or subjec- 
tive phcucmena ; tliat they vm\ be tine f'nly 
in propoilion as they confoim to the laws of 
these phenomena ; and tliat bef<.ie they can 
thus coufurm the ailist must know what 
these laws are. That tills a priori co\n\n- 
siou tallies with experience we shall soon see. 

Youths preparing for the piacticeof sculp- 
ture have to acquaint themselves with the 
bones and muscks of the human frame iu 
their dislribuiion, altaclinunls, and move- 
ments. Tiiis is a portion of science ; and it 
has been found needful to impart it for the 
prevention of those many errois which sculp- 



tors who do not p( sscss it commit. For the 
prevention of olhei niisiakf s, a kiiowltdge ef 
mechanical piincii-ks is k quisite ; and suth 
knowledge not being usu; lly possessed, 
grave mechanical mistakes aie fiequently 
made. Take an iHslance. For ihe stability 
of a figure it is needful that the perpendicu- 
lar frt ni the centre of gravity — " the line of 
direction," as ii is f Hlleii — sluuild fall within 
the base of suppoit; and hence it happens, 
that when a man assumes the atlituue 
known as " standing at eiise," in which one 
leg is straightened and the other idaxed. the 
line of direction falls within the foot of the 
straightened leg. But sculptors unfamiliar 
wiih the theory of equilibrium not uncom- 
monly sorepitseut this attitude that the line 
of diiection falls midway between the feet. 
Ignorance of the lavvs of momentum leads to 
analogous errors, as witness the admired 
Discobolus, whi< h, as it is posed, must inev- 
itably fall forward the moment the quoit i>s 
delivered. 

In painting, the necessity for scientific 
knowledgiv, empirical if not laliomd, is stiil 
mere conspicuous. In what consists the 
grotescjueness of Cl;inosc pictures, unless in 
their ullcr disregard of tlic laws of appear- 
ances — in their absuul liutar perhpective, 
and their want of uG.'.-cA puspective? In 
what are the drawings (jf u cliild so faulty, if 
not in a similar ab^ence (f truth — an ab- 
seni-c arising, in great part, from ignorance 
of th<! way in which the aspects of things 
vary with the conditions? JJo but remem- 
ber the books andhctu.es by which students 
are instructed, or consider the critcisms of 
Rurkin, or look at the doings of the ,Prc- 
Rafl'aelites, and you will slc that progress 
in painting implies increasing kucwledge of 
how effects in nature are ]'roduced. The 
most diligent e)bservatiou, if not aided by 
science, fails to preset ve from error. Every 
painter will indorse Ihe assertion that unlcs? 
it is knmvn what appearances must exist un- 
der given eivcumslauces they oflLU will not 
be perceived ; and to know what appearances 
must exist, is, in so far, to understand the 
science of appearances. From want of sci- 
ence Mr. J. Lewis, careful painter as he is, 
casts ihe shadow of a lattice-window in 
sharply-defineel lines upon an opposite wall ; 
Which he would not have done had he been 
familiar with the phenomena of peuuuibra;. 
From want of science Mr. Roselli, catching 
sight of a peculiar iridescence elisplayed by 
certain hairy suifaces under patticuiai lights 
(an iridescence caused by the diffiaciiuu of 
light in passing tiie hairs), commits the error 
of showing tins iridescence on surfaces and 
in positions where it could not occur. 

To say ihat music, to.), has need of scien- 
tific aid will seem sliU more surprising.^ Yet 
it is demjnstrable that music is but an ideal- 
ization of the natuial language of emotion, 
and that consequently music must be good 
or ba i according as it cuuforuis to Ihe laws 
of ihis iialural language. The various in- 
fiections of voice which accompany feelings 
of diilereut kinds and iuiensitiea have been 



370 



EDUCATION: INTELLECTUAL, MORAL, AND THYSICAL. 



shown to be the germs out of which music is 
developed. Il has been luriher showu that 
these iuHections aud ca;lcaces are not acciden- 
tal or arbitrary, but tliat they are determined 
by certain general principles ot vital action, 
and that their exprehsiventss depends on 
this. Whence it follows that musical phrases 
and the melodies built of tlieni can be effec- 
tive only whea they are in harmony with 
these general principles. It is dittieult heie 
properly to illustiate this position. But per- 
haps it will suUico to instance the swaims of 
worthless ballads thai infest drawing-rooms, 
us compositions which science would forbid. 
They sin against science by settmg to music 
ideas that are not emotional enough to 
prompt musical expression ; and they also 
bin against science by using musical plirases 
that have no natural rela'duu to the ideas ex- 
pressed, even where these are emotional. 
They aie bad because they are untrue. And 
to S'ay they are untrue is to say they are un- 
scientific. 

Even in poetry the same thing holds. 
Like music, poetry has its root in those nat- 
ural modes of expression which accompany 
deep feeling. Its rhythm, i,s strong and nu- 
merous melaphcis, iis hyperboles, jts violent 
inversions, are simply exaggei'alious of the 
traits of excited speech. 'Vo be gOvjd, there- 
fore, poetiy must pay respect to those laws 
of nervous action which excited speech 
obeys. In intensifying and combining the 
traits of excited speech it must have due re- 
.gard to proportion — must not use its appli- 
ances Aviihout restriction ; but, where the 
ideas are least emotional, must use the forms 
of poetical expression sparingly ; must use 
them more freely as the emoiion rises ; and 
must carry them all to thuir greatest extent 
only where the emotion readies a climax. 
The entire contraventiim of these principles 
results in b'unbast or doggerel. The iu- 
sutlicieut respect for ihem is seen in didactic 
poetry. And it is because Ihey are rarely 
fully obeyed that we have so much poetiy 
that is inartistic. 

Not only is it that the artist, of whatever 
kind, cannot produce a truthful work with- 
out he imdLrstauds the laws of tiie phenom- 
ena he represents, but it is that he must 
also understand h,;w the minds of specttitors 
or listeners will be attected by the several 
peculiarities of his work — a question in [isy- 
chology. What impression any given ait- 
product geuerales manifestly depends upon 
the mental natuies of those to whom it is pre- 
sented ; and as all mental natures have certain 
general principles in common, there must 
result cerl;dn corresponding general princi- 
ples on which alone art-products can be suc- 
cessfully framed. These general piinciples 
cannot be fully understood and applied un- 
less the aui.;t sees how they follow fium the 
laws of mind. To ask whether the comi)o- 
sitiun of a picture is good is really to ask 
bow the percept ions and feelings of observers 
■will be affecled by it. To ask whether a 
drama is well constructed is to ask whether 
iUd situations are so arianged as duly to con- 



sult the power of attention of an audiencv^, 
and duly to avoid overtaxing any one class 
of feelings. Ecpiallyin arrauging^hu leading 
divisions of a poem or lictiou, and in combin- 
ing the woids of a single sentence, the good- 
ness of the effect depends upon the skill with 
which the mental energies and su.sci;ptii)ili- 
tits of the leader aie economized. Every 
aitist, in the couise of his education and 
after-life, accumulates a stock of maxims by 
which his practice is legulaled. Trace such 
maxims to their roots, and yini hud they in- 
evitably lead you down to psychological prin- 
ciples. And only when the artist rationally 
understands these psych;)logical principles 
and their vaiious cotoUaiies can he woik ia 
harmony with them. 

We do not for a moment believe that 
science will make an artist. While we contend 
that the leading laws both of objective and 
subjective phenomena must be understood 
by Mim, we by no means contend that knowl- 
edge of such laws will seive in place of nat- 
uial perception. Not only the poet, but 
also the aitist of every type, is liorn, not 
made. What wo assert is that innate faculty 
alone will not sutlice, but mu^t have the 
aid of organized knowledge. Intuition will 
do much, but it will not tio all. Only when 
genius is matried to scieuce can the highest 
results be produced. 

As we have above asserted, science is nec- 
essary not ordy for the most successful pro- 
duction, but also for the full appreciation of 
the tine arts. In what consi;>i3 the giealer 
ability of a man than of a child to i)ciceive 
the beauties of a picture, unless it is in his 
more extended knowledge of those trutJis iu 
nature or life which the pictuie renders? 
How happens the cultivated gentleman to 
enjoy a line poem so much moie ilian a boor 
dots, if it is not because his wrJer acyuaiut- 
ance with objects and actions enables mm to 
see in the poem much that the boor cannot 
see? And if, as is here so obvious, theie 
must be some familiarity with the thiugs rep- 
resented befoie the representation can be 
appieciated, then the jepresentaiion can ba 
complelL'ly appreciated only in propoitiou 
as the tlnngs rtpreseniod are completely un- 
dei stood. The fact is that eveiy additional 
tiuth which a work of art expresses gives aa 
additional pleasure to the percipient iniud — ■ 
a [)leasure that is missed by those igninant of 
Ihistiuth. Tlie iiijie reulities au aitist in- 
dicates iu any given amount (d' work the 
more faculties does he appeal to, the moie 
numerous associatetl ideas does i'e suggest, 
tlie more giatiticaii(jn does he alfoid. but to 
receive tliis gratilicatiun tlie spectator, lis- 
tener, or reader must know the realities 
vvhicli the artist has indicated, and to knovr 
these realities is to know so much scieiu:e. 

And now ka us not overluok the further 
great fact that not only does science under- 
lie sculpture, paintiug,uiusic, poi'try, but that 
science is itself poetic. The curreai opinion 
that scieuce and poetry aie opposed is a delu- 
sion, it is doubtless true that as states of 
consciousness, cognition and emotion lend U» 



EDUCATION: INTELLECTUAL, MORAL, AND PHYSICAL. 



271 



exclude each other. And it is doubtless also 
true tliat aa exiieme activity of the reflective 
powers tends to deaden the feehugs, while 
an extreme activity of the feehngs tends to 
deaden the rellective powers ; in which 
sense, indeed, all orders of activitj' are an- 
■ ti'gijuistic to each other. But it is not true 
liiiit the facts of science are unpoelical, or 
that the cultivation of science is necessarily 
unfriendly to the exercise of iuiagluallon or 
the love of the beautiful. On the contrary, 
science opens up realms of poetry where to 
tlie unscientific all is a blank. Those en- 
gaged in scientific researches constantly 
show us that they realize not Jess vividly, but 
more vividly, tiian others, the poetry of their 
subjects. VVhuever will dip into Hugh Md- 
lur's works un geology, or lead Mr. Ltwes's 
"Seaside Studies," will perceive that 
science excites poetry rather than extin- 
guishes it. And whoever will contemplate 
the life of Goethe will see that the poet and 
(he man of science can coexist in equal ac- 
tivity. Ls it not, indeed, an absurd and al- 
most a sacrilegious belief that the more a 
man stuaies nature the less he icveres it' 
Think you tiiat a drop of water, which to 
the vulg;ir eye is but a drop of water, loses 
anything in the eye of the pliysici^t who 
knows iliat its elements aie held together by 
a force which, if suddenly liberated, would 
produce a tkish of liglUuingV Think 3 ou 
that what is carelessly looked upon by the 
uninitiated as a meie snowllake does not 
suggest higher associations to one who has 
eeeu through a microscope the woudrou.^ly 
varied and elegant forms of snow-ciystals ? 
Think you that the rounded rock marked 
with parallel scratches calls up as much poe- 
try in an ignorant mind as in the m.nd of a 
geologist, who knows that over this rock a 
glacier slid a million years ago? Tlie liuth 
is that those who have never entered upon 
ecientitic pursuits know not a tithe of the 
poetry by wliich they are sui rounded. Who- 
ever has not in youth collected jdants and in- 
sects knows not half tiie halo of interest 
Which lanes and hedgerowa can assume. 
Whoever has Uut scught for fossds h:is little 
Wea of the poetical associations that sur- 
round the places wliere imbedded treasures 
were found. Whoever at the seaside has not 
had a microscope and atjuarium has j'et to 
leaiu what the highest pleasu:es of the sea- 
side are. Sad, indeed, is it to see how men 
occupy ihemseives with tiivialities, and are 
indifferent to the grandest phenomena — care 
not to understand the architecture of the 
heavens, but are deeply luteiested in some 
contemptible conlrovcisy about the intrigues 
of Mary Queen of Scots ! — are learnedly crit- 
ical over a Gicek ode, and pass by willioul a 
glance that giand epic written by the finger 
of God upim the sliala of the eartii 1 

We find, then, that even for this remain- 
ing division of human activities scientific 
culture is the proper preparatit a. We find 
that aesthetics in general uie necessarily based 
upon scientific principles, and can be pui- 
8U6<1 with complete success only through an 



acquaintance wUh these principles. We find 
that for the criticism and due appreciation 
of works of art a knowledge of the constitu- 
tion of things, or in other words a knowledge 
of science, is requisite. A.ud we not only 
find that science is the handmaid to all forma 
of art and poetry, but that, rightly regarded, 
science is itself poetic. 

Thus far our question has been the worth 
of knowledge of this or that kind for pur- 
jjoses of guidance. We have now to judge 
the relative values of different kinds of 
knowledge for purposes of discipline. This 
division of our subject we are obliged to treat 
with comparative brevity ; and happily no 
very lengthened treatment of it is needed. 
Having found what is best for the one end, 
we have by implication found what is best 
for the other. We may be quite sure that 
the acquirement of those classes of facts 
which are most useful for regulating con- 
duct involves a mental exercise best fitted 
lor strengthening the faculties. It would be 
utterly contrary to the beautiful tcouumy of 
nature if one kind of culture were needed 
for the gaining of infoimatum and another 
kind were needed as a mental gymnastic. 
Everywhere throughout creation we find fac- 
ulties developed through the peifoimauce of 
those functions which it is their olnce to per- 
form, not througli the perfurmaiice of arti- 
ficial exerck-es otvised 10 fit them for these 
functions. The lied Indian aeeiuires the 
swiftness and agility which make him a suc- 
cessful hunter by the actual puisuit of ani- 
mals ; and by the miscellaneous activities of 
his life he gains a better balance of physical 
powers tlian gymnastics ever give. That 
skill iu tiackiug* enemies and prey which he 
has reached by long practice imidies a sub- 
tlety of peiceptiuu lar exceeding anything 
produced by aitificial training. And simi- 
larly throughout. From the Bushman, 
whose eye, which being habitually employed 
in identifying distant objects that are to be 
pursued or fled from, has acquired a quita 
telescopic range, to the accountant whose 
daily practice enabl-s liim to add up several 
coluuius of figures simultaneously . we find 
that the highest jjower of a faculty results 
from the discharge of those duties wliieli the 
conditions of life require it to discharge. And 
we may be certain, d piiori, that the same 
'law holds throughout education. The edu- 
cation of most value for guidance must at 
the same time be the education of most value 
for discipline. Let us consider the evidence. 

One advantage claimed for that devotion 
to language-learning which forms so promi- 
nent a feature in the ordinary CHmcM/«/«. is 
that tlie memory is thereby streugthcned. 
And it is apparently assumed that this is an 
(advantage peculiar to the study of words. 
But the truth is that the sciences afford far 
wider fields for the exercise of memory. It 
is no slight task to remember all the fawls 
ascertained respecting our solar system, 
much more to remember all that is known 
concerning the structure of our galaxy. The 
new compjunds which chemistry daily ac- 



272 



EDUCATION- INTELLECTUAL, MORAL, AXD PHYSICAL. 



cumulatfs are so uumerous that few save 
professors know Ihs namt's of them all ; 
anrl to reo.iliect the atomic onslitutions ami 
adinities of ail thesy compomiJs is scarcely 
I)ijssible without making chjinistry the oc- 
cupation of life, ill the ciioimoas mass of 
phenomcaa p.escutcd by the oaith's crust, 
and in the still more cuormoua mass of phe- 
nomena presented by the fossils iu coulains, 
there is matter which it lakes the geological 
student years of applicaiiun to mister. In 
each leadiag dlv'isi.ju of physics — sound, 
beat, light, electricity — the facts are numer- 
ous enough to alarm auy one prop )sing to 
learn ihem all. And when we pass to the 
organic sciences, llie effort of memory re- 
quired Incomes still greater. In human 
anatomy alone, the quantity of detail is so 
great that the young surgeon has commonly 
to get it up half a d"zeo times before he can 
permaueutly retain it. The number of spe- 
cies of plants which botanists distinguish 
amouuis to some 830,000, while the varied 
forms of animal life with which the zoologist 
deals are estimated at some tv/o millions. 
So vast is the accumiilatiou of facts which 
men of scieu^je have befoie them that only 
by dividing and subdividing their labors can 
they deal with it. To a complete knowl- 
edge of his own division each adds but a 
general knowledge of the rest. Sure'y, then, 
science, cultivated even to a very moderate 
•extent, atfords adequate exercise for mem- 
ory. To say the very least, it involves quite 
as good a training for this faculty as lan- 
guage does. 

But now mark that while for the training 
of mere memory, science is ;is good as if not 
better than language, it has" an immense 
superiority in the kind of memory it cul- 
tivates. In the acquirement of a language, 
the connections of ideas to be established 
in the miu'l correspond to facts that are in 
great measure accidental ; whereas in the 
.acquirement of science the connections of 
ideas to be establis.ied in the mind correspond 
to facts that are mostly necessary. It is true 
that the relatirjus of ivcrds to their meaning 
is in one sense natural, and that the genesis 
of these relations may be traced "back a 
certain distance, tiiough very rarely to the 
beginning (to wliich let us add the remark 
that the laws of this genesis form a branch 
i)f mental scii-nce— the science of philology). 
.But since it wiii not be contended that inl'lie 
acquisition of languages, as ordinarily car- 
.ried on, these natural lelations bet ween words 
.and their meanin-s are habitually traced, 
and the laws regulating them explained, it 
■must be admitted (hat they are commonly 
iearned as foi tuitous relation,?. On the other 
riiand, the relations which science pre- 
sents are causal leiations, and, when prop- 
erly taught, are understood as such. Instead 
of being practically accidental, they are neces- 
sary, and as such give exercise to the 
reasoning faculties. While language famil- 
iarizes with non-ratioual relations," science 
f uiiliarize:* with rational lelalious. While 
ttie one exerci^ics m, mo;y only, the other ex- 



ercises both memory and understanding. 

Observe next that a great supeiioni^'^ o| 
science over language as a means of disci- 
pline is that it culti'^ates the judgment. As, 
in a lecture on mental education deiivered at 
the Royal Institution, Proftssor Farad.iy 
well remarks, the most common inlellec-" 
tual fault is deiiciency of judgmeut. H« 
contends tliat " sociecy, speaking generally, 
is not only ignoraat as respects educatum 
of the judgment, but it is also ignorant of 
its igucnauce." And the cause tn which h« 
ascribes this state is want of scientitic cul- 
ture. The truth of his conclusion is ob- 
vious. Correct judgment With regard to all 
tiurrounding things, events, and consequences 
becomes possible only through kuov/lcdgo 
of the way in which surrounding piienoni- 
eua depend on each other. No extent (.f 
acquaintance with the meanings of wor J3 
can give the power of forming correct in- 
ferences respecting causes and effects. Tha 
constant habit of drawing conclusions from 
data, and then of verifying those conclu- 
sions by observation and expeiimeut, can 
alone give the power of judging correctly. 
And tiiut it necessitates this haiat is one of 
the immense advantages of science. 

Not only, however, for inlflleclual disci- 
pline is science the best ; but also for moral 
discipline. The learning of languages tends, 
if anything, furtiier to increase the alter.dy 
undue respect for authority. Such iuid sucU 
are the aicanings of these words, says 
the teacher or the dieaionuy. So and so Is 
the lule in Ihi-i case, says the grammar. By 
the pupil these dicta arc received as un- 
questionable. His constiiut atiitude of mind 
is that of submission to dogmatic teaching. 
And a uc< e.-^sary result is a tendency to ac- 
cept without inquiry whatever is established. 
Quite opj)Oaite is tlie altitutle of mind gener- 
ated by tlie cultivation of science. By science 
constant appeal is made to in dividual reason. 
Its trutlis are not acceple.l upon authority 
alone, but all areathbeily to test them — nay 
in many cases the pupil is j (.quired to Ihinit 
out his own conclusions. Every step in ai 
scientific investigation is submitted to his 
judgment. He is not asked to admit it witli- 
out seeing it to be true. And the trust ia 
his own jioweis thus produced is funiier in 
creased iiy the constancy with which nature 
justities his conclusions whi n ihey are cor- 
rectly drawn. From all which there Hows 
tliat independence which is a most valuable 
element in character. Nor is this the only 
moral benefit bequcatlud by scienliric cul- 
ture. When carried on. as it should always 
be, as much as possible under the foim of in- 
dependent lesearcn, it oxeicises pei severance 
and sincerity. As says Piolessor Tyndall ol 
inductive inquir}', " it n quires pali<;nt in- 
dustry, and an humble and (louscientious ac- 
ceptance of v.iiat nature reveals. The Hist 
condition of success is an honest receptivity 
and a willingness lo abandon all piecon- 
ceiled noiioi.s, 'vnvevercluri.-hed, if they b« 
found to contradict the tiutn. Believe me, 
a self-reuuuciatiou which has somtthing no 



EDUCATION: INTELLECTUAL, MORAL, AND PHYSICAL. 



273 



ble ia it, and of which the T^oild never 
hears, is often fmacted in the private experi- 
ence of (he true votary of scitnce. " 

Lastly we liave to assert — and theasserlion 
will, we doubt not, cause exireme surprise — 
that tlie discipline of science is superior to 
that of our ordinary education bL=caiise of 
the religion.fi culture tlial it g-ives. Of course 
we do not here use the words seieuiilic and 
religious in their ordinary limited accepta- 
tions, but in their widest and higiiest accep' 
tations. Douiitless, to the superstitijus tliat 
pass under tlie name or religion, science is 
anlaganistic, but not to the essential relig- 
ion v/hich these superstitions merely hide. 
Doubtless, too, in much of the science that 
is current there is a pervading spiiit of irre- 
ligion, but not in that true science which 
has passed beyond tlie superlicial into the 
profound. 

" Tiue science and tnio relij^ion," sayp Froi^p<«»yi* 
Bi!::lcy, at Uic c;os(> of u recent c'lUisu';:!' lectiirew, 
" are 1 win-sisleris, and tlie ^eI)aI■aClurl oT either f.om 
tile oilier l!» Miie to piove tlif. ueatii «i hoiti. yeience 
pn)s|iers extii'ily in propovrioii as it Ih ri-liginus; ;iud 
religion fi<)r.rishi;8 in cxt,et tJi-opox'tiim t'.) liie tcicmiflc 
depth and lirniness of it- liasis. The gre.it (.med.s of 
plulosoplier- have been le^w the frnit of dieir jnieilect 
than of ihe direction of ihiit intellect by an eminently 
religions* tone of m;nd. Tiulh lui.s jieli'.ed herself 
raiher to tl.cir patience, I heir love, their i-uij.'':e-heiirled- 
npMi, and their sell-denial, than to tueir logical acu- 
men." 

So far from science being irreligious, as 
many think, it is the negk'ct of science that 
is ineliginus — it is the refusal to study tlie 
surrounding cretilion that is ineligious. Tahs 
a humble simile. Sii}>p.jseawrilei were daily 
ialuled with praises cuuched in superlative 
I'lUguage. Sujipose (he wisdom, Ihe gran- 
deur, the beauty of liis works, were ihe con- 
stant topics of the eulogies addressed lo him. 
Sunpose those who uuceasin^-ly lUtercd these 
eulogies on liis works were conltiil wiiii look- 
ing at (he outsides of them, and had never 
opt tied them, muclt less tried tu undetslaud 
them. What value should we put iip(-ntlieir 
praises ? What should we think of lijcir sin- 
ce; ity ? Yet, comiiariiig small things ( ;.• great, 
sucii is the conduct of mankind in general 
iu reference to tlie universe and its cause. 
Naj', it is worse. Not only do they pass b}' 
without aludy these things which (hey daily 
prochiim to be so wonde/fui, but very fre- 
quently tliey condemn as mere triiiers (hose 
who give; lime to the observation of uatuie- ' 
they iictually scoin those who sliow any ac- 
tive interest in tlicse marvels. We repeat, 
then, that not science, but the neglect of 
science, is irreligious. Devoticn to science 
is a tacit worsliip — a tacit rec'ignition of 
wortli in the things studied, antl by implica- 
tion in (htir cause. It is not & mere lip- 
homage, l)ut a homage expressed in actions, 
not a mete professed respect, but a respect 
proved by the sucritice of time, thought, and 
labor. 

Nor is it thus only that true science is es- 
sentially religious. It is religious, too, inas- 
much as ii genet ates a profound respect 
for and an implicit faith in those uniform 
laws which underlie all things. By acf*^ 



nuilated experiences tlie man of science 
acquires a thorough belief in the unchang- 
ing relations of phenomena— iu the invjiria- 
ble connection of causct, and consequence — 
iu the necessity of good or evil results. In- 
stead of the rewards and punishments of tror- 
ditional belief, which men vaguely liopethey 
may gain, or escape, spite of their disobe- 
dience, he finds that there are rewards anj 
intnishmcuts in the ordained constitution of 
things, and that (he evil results of disobedi- 
ence are inevitidjie. He sees that the laws 
to which we must submit are not only inex- 
orable but beneticcnt. He sees that in vir- 
tue of these laws t!io process of tilings is 
ever toward a greater perfection and a high- 
er happiness. Hence iie is led conslantlj 
(o insist on these laws, and is indignant 
when men disregard them. And thus does 
.ie, by asserting the gerual principles of 
things and the nectssii}' of conforming to 
(hem, prove himself inirinsicaily religious. 

To all which add (he further religious 
aspect of fcience, that it alone can give us 
true conceptions of ourselves, and our relti- 
tion to the mysteries of existence. At the 
same lime that it shov.-s us all which can be 
known, it shows us the liraiis beyond which 
we can know nothing. Not by dogmatic 
assertion does it teach the impossibilily of 
comprehending the ultiniiite cause of things, 
but it leads us clearl\' to recognize this im- 
possibility by bringing us in every directioa 
to boundaries we cannot cioss. It realizes 
to us in a way wliich nothing else can, the 
littleness of human inlelligence iu the face of 
that which transcends human intelligence. 
While toward the traditions an-i authoiitiea 
of men its attitude maj* be proud, licfore the 
impencti able veil which hides the absolute its 
attitude is hurnbie — a true prifie and a true 
humility. Oniy the sinece man of science 
(and by this title we do not mean the mere 
calcrdator of distances, or analyzer of com- 
pounds, or labeller of species, but him 
who through lower truths seeks higher, and 
eventually (he highesl) — only the gcnuina 
man of science, we say, can tndy know haw 
utterly beyond, not only human knowledge 
but humau concept ion, is tlie universal pow,. 
er of which nature and life and thought 
are manifeslatienis. 

We conclude, then, that for discipline as 
<<ell as for guidance, science is of chiefast 
value. In tdl its effects, learning the mean- 
ings of things is be((er than letvrning tha 
meanings of "words. Vi^liedier for inteilcct- 
ual, moral, or religious training, the study of 
surroundiug phenomena is immensely su- 
perior to (he study of grammars and lexicons. 

Thus (0 the question with which we set 
out. What knowledge is of most worth? 
the uniform reply is — science. This is tha' 
verdict on all the counts. For direct self- 
preservation, or the maintenance of life and 
health, the all-important knowledge is — sci- 
ence. For that indirect self-prchervalioti 
which we call gaining a livelihood, the 
knowledge of greatest value is— science. 
«''^» tlie due discharge of parental f unclioua. 



274 



EDUCATION: INTELLECTUAL, MORAL, AND PHYSICAL. 



the proper guidiir.co is to be found only in — 
science. For that intorprelaliou of national 
Jll'e, past and present, vvitliout wliicii the cit- 
Ken cannot rightly regulate his conduct, the 
indispensable key is — science. Alike for 
the most perfect production and Jiighest en- 
joyment of art in all its forms, the needful 
preparation is still — science. And for pur- 
poses of discipline — intellectual, moral, relig- 
ious — the most efficient study is, once 
more — science. The question which at tiist 
seemed so perplexed has become, in the 
course of our inquiry, comparatively simple. 
We have not to estimate the d<grees of im 
portance of dillerent orders of human activ- 
ity, and different studies as sc'v'erally tilting 
tis for them, since we llud lliat the study 
ot science, in its most compiehcnsrve mean- 
ing, is the best preparation for all these 
orders of activity. VVe have not to decide 
between the claims of kiiowleJge of great 
though conventional value, and knowledge 
of less though intrinsic value, seeing that 
the knowledge which we lind to be of most 
value in all other respects is intrinsically 
most valuable : its worth is not dependent 
upon opinion, but is as lixed as is the lela- 
tiou of man to the surrounding world. Nec- 
essary and eternal as are its truths, all sci- 
ence concerns all mankind lor all time. 
Equally at present and in the remotest 
future must it be of incalculable importance 
for the regulation of their conduct ihat men 
should imdcrstaud the science of life, physi- 
cal, mental, and social, and that they should 
understand all other science as a k{.~ to the 
science of life. ^,.. 

And yet the knowledge which is oi such 
transcendent value is that which, in our age 
of boasted education, receives the least at- 
tention. While this which we call civiliza- 
tion could never have arisen had it not been 
for science, science forms scarcely an ap- 
preciable element in what men consider civ- 
ilized training. Though to the progress of 
science we owe it that millions tind support 
where once there was food only for tliou- 
eands, yet of tijcse millions but a tew thou- 
sands pay any respect to that which has made 
their existence possible Though this in- 
creasing knowledge of the properlies and re- 
lations of tilings has not only enal)led wan- 
derhig tribes to q;row into populous nations, 
but has given to the count'ess members of 
those populous nations comforts and pleas- 
ures which their few naked ancestors never 
even conceived, or j.ouid have believed, yet 
is this kind of knowledge only now receiving 
a grudging recognition in our highest educa- 
tional institutions. To the siowij^ growing 
acquaintance wiih the uniform oexisteiices 
and sequences of phenomena — to the estab- 
lishment of invariable laws — we owe our 
emancipation from llic irrossest supeistitions. 
But for science we sliould lie still worship- 
ping fetishes, or, Willi hecatomb*' of victims, 
propitiating diabolical <]eilies. And yet this 
science, wtiich in place of the most degrad- 
ing concept ious of thing-, has given us some 
iosio'*' *' ine giamleurs of cieatiou \& 



wiitten against in our theologies and frowned 
upon from our pulpits. 

Paiaphrafciiig an Eastern fable, ^emaj'' say 
Ihat in the family of knowledges science is 
the liousehoid drudge, who, in obscurity, 
hides uniec(imt!7,ed perfections. To her has 
been commiJp il all the work; by her skill, 
intelligence, and devc^tion have all the con- 
veniences and gratifications been obtained ; 
and w^hile ceaselessly occupied miuisteiing 
to the rest, she has been kept in the back- 
grotmd, that her haughty sisters might flaunt 
their fripperies in the eyes of the world. The 
parallel holds yet further. For we are fast 
coming to iha denouement, when the positions 
will be clianged ; and while thtse haughty 
sisters sink into merited neglect, science, 
proclaimed as highest alike in worth and 
beauty, will reign supreme. 

CHAPTER II. 

* INTELLECTUAL EDUCATION. 

Theke cannot fail to be a relationship be- 
tween the successive systems of educatiim 
and the successive social states with which 
they have coexisted. Having a cominou 
origin in the national mind, the institutions 
of each epoch, whatever be their special 
functions, must have a family likeness. 
When men received their creed and its inter- 
pretations from an infallible authoiity deign- 
ing no explanations, it, was natural that the 
teaching of children should be purely dog- 
matic While " believe and ask no ques- 
tions" was the maxim of the Church, it was 
fitly the maxim of the school. Conversely, 
now that Pi otest autism has gained for adults 
a right of private judgment and established 
the practice of appealing to reason, there is 
harmonj'' in the cliange that has made juve- 
nile instruction a process of exposition ad- 
dressed to the understanding. Along with 
political despotism, stern in its commands, 
ruling- by force of terror, visiting trilling 
crimes with death, and implacable in its ven- 
geance on the disloyal, there necessarily grew 
up an academic discipline similaily harsh 
— a discipline of multiplied injunctions and 
blows for every breach of them — a discipline 
of unlimited autocracy upheld by rods, and 
ferules, and the black-hole. On the other 
hand, the increase of political liberty, the 
abolition of law restricting individual action, 
and the amelioialion of the criminal code, 
have been accompanied b}^ a kindred progress 
toward non-coen-ive education : the pupil 
is hampered by fewer restraints, and other 
means than punishments arc used to govern 
him. In those ascetic days when men, act- 
ing on the greatest-misery principle, held 
that the m' re gratifications they denied 
themselves the more virtuous they were, 
they, as a matter of course, considered that 
the best education which most thwarted the 
wishes of their chiklren, and cut short all 
spontaneous activity with " You mustn't 
do so. Vyhil'3 on the contrary, now that 
happiness is coming to be regarded as a le- 
gitimate aim — now that hours of labor are 
l-eini^ siiortencJ and popular recreations pro- 



EDUCATION; INTELLECTUAL, .MORAL, AND PHYSICAL. 



275 



vidfd — patents and teachers are beginning io 
see that most cliildisl) desires may Jigluly be 
giatitied. ihat childish sports sh(-uld be en- 
couraged, and tliat the tendencies of tiie 
giovving- mind ;ue not altogether so diabolical 
as was supposed. The age in which all 
thought that trades must be established by 
bounties and prohibitions, that inanuiactur- 
ers needed their mateiials and qualities and 
prices to be prescribed, and that the value 
of money could be determined by law, was 
an age which unavoidably cherished thv. 
notions that a child's mind ccadd be made to 
order, that its powers were to b<' imparted 
by the schoolmaster, that it was u lecep- 
taclH into which knowledge "was to be put 
and ti'ieie built up after jis teaclier's ideal. 
In this free- trade era, however, when we are 
leal uing that there is much more self-regu- 
lation 111 things thiiu was supposed ; that 
Ihbor, and commerce, and agricul;un>. and 
navigation can do better withcut raauagemeut 
tliau with it ; that political governnuuts, to 
be efficient, must giow up from wiihin, and 
iu/t bo imposed from withcut, we are also 
b( ginning to see that there is a natinal pro- 
cess of mental evolution which is not to be 
disturbed without mjury ; that we may not 
force on the unfolding mind our aitilicial 
forms ; but that psychology also discloses 
to us a law of supply anti detnand, to which, 
if we would not do ha:m, we must confoim. 
Thus alike, in its oracular dognuitism, in its 
Iharsh discipline, iu its multiplied restric- 
tions, in its professed asceticism, and in its 
faith in the devicfs of men, the old educa- 
tional regime was akin to the social systems 
with which it was coutemporauLOUs ; and 
similarly, in the reverse of these characteiis- 
tics our motieru modes of culture correspond 
to our more libeial religious and political in- 
stilulious. 

But there remain further parallelisms to 
which we have not yet adverted : that, 
namely, between the processes by which 
these lespective changes have been wrought 
out, and that betvvei-n the several slates of 
heterogeneous opinion to which they have 
led. Some centuries ago there was unii'oim- 
ity of belief — religious, political, and educa- 
tional. All men were Ii(jmauists, all were 
Jlonarcliisls, all were disciples of Aristotle, 
and no one thought of calling in question 
that grammar school i-outine under which all 
"were brought up. The same agency has Ia 
each case leplaced this uniformity by a con- 
stantly increasing diveisity. That tendency 
toward assertion of the individuality which, 
after couti'ibutiug to produce the great Piot- 
estant movcmeui, has since gone on to pro- 
duce an ever-increasing number of sects — 
that tendency which initiated political par- 
ties, and out of the two primary ones has, in 
these modern da3's, evolved a multiplicity to 
which every year adds — that tendency wnich 
led to the Baconian rebellion against the 
schools, and has since originated here and 
abroad sundry new systems of thought- is a 
tendency which, in education also, has 
caused diviu"'-r> iiie accumulation of 



melhods. As external cunsequenccs of the 
same internal change, these processes 'have 
necessarily been moi'e or less sinudlaueous. 
The decline of authoiity. whether papal, 
philosophic, kingly, or tutorial, is esseuliaily 
one phenomenon ; in each of its aspects a 
leaning toward free action is seen alike in 
the working out of the change itself, and in 
the new forms of theory and practice io 
which the change has given birth. 

While many will regret this multiplication 
'ji schemes of juvenile cultuie, the cathode 
observer will disceiu in it a means of insur- 
ing the final cslablislim'.'ut of a rational sy::.- 
tem. "Whatever iiiay be thought of theolog- 
ical dissent, il is clear that dissent in tduca- 
iion results in facilitating inquiry by Iha 
division in labjr. Were we in possession of 
the true method, divergence fruni it would, 
of course, be prejudicial; but the true 
method having to be found, the efforts of 
numerous independent seekers, carrying out 
their researches in dilfeient diixctious, con- 
stitute a better agency for finding it than 
any that could be devise'l. Each of them 
struck by some new thought which prohnbly 
contains moie or less of hasis m facts — each 
of them zealous on behalf of his plan, feitiio 
in expedients to test its coireclniss, and un- 
tiring in his efforts to make kuown its suc- 
cess — each of them merciless in his crilic;ism 
on the rest — there cannot fail, bv rompoa!* 
tion of forces, to be a gradual approximation 
of all toward the right course. Whatever 
portion of the normal method any one of 
them has discovered, must, by the cuQstaaii 
exhibition of its lesults, force itself into 
adoption ; whatever wrong jiraclices hf» h:m 
joined with it must, by repeated experime.'jt 
and failure, be exploded. And by this ag- 
gregation of truths and eliminalinn of ern'rs 
there must eventually be developed a correct 
and complete body of doctrine. Of the tliree 
phases through whicth human opinion pas.ses 
— the unanimity of the ignorant, the di;5- 
agreement of the inquiring, and the unanim- 
ity of the wise — it is manifest tha.t the second 
is the parent of the third. They are not 
sequences in time only; thej'" aie sequences 
in causation. However impatiently, there- 
fore, we may witness the preseut conflict of 
educational systems, and however much we 
may regret its accompanying evils, we must 
recognize it as a transition slage needful to 
be passed through, and beneficiut in its ulti- 
mate effects. 

Meanwhile may we not advantageously 
take stock of our progress ? After fifty 
years of diseussion, experiment, and com- 
parison of result.?, may Ave not expect a few- 
steps toward the g-al to 1)3 already made 
good ? Home old metiiods must by tliis time 
luive falleu out of use, some new ones must 
have become established, and many others 
must be in process (;f general aiiandonmeut 
or adoption. Probably we may see m these 
various changes, when put side by side, sim- 
ilar characteristics — may find in them a com- 
mon tendency, and so. by inference, may 
get a clew to the direction in which expeii« 



876 



EDUCATION: INTELLECTUAL. MORAL, AND PHYSICAL. 



ence is leadin:^ us, and gather hints how we 
may achieve yttt fiirtlier improvements. Let 
us then, as a preliminary to a deeper consid- 
eration of the matter, srlance at the leading 
contracts l)etvv<,'ea the education of the past 
and of the present. 

The siippressioa of C7cry error is com- 
monly fullovved by a tempornry ascendeney 
of tlic contrary one ; and it so Iia!)[)encd 
that after the ages when physical deveiop- 
TT.f-nt alone was aimed at, there came au age 
when cidlure of the miu I wa-i tiie sole .sulici- 
tiidfe — vfiicu childif n had lessra-books put 
bfd'jro, them at betAveen two and three ye>us 
li ; — '.vhen .vchooldiouis v/ere [notracleil, and 
Ihi; g'.limg (,f knowledge was th;iu i,t, tlie 
one tiling needful. A'-:, further, it usuully 
liai)!"i(ns, Ijiat after one of lhe.se ieac!io/is iho 
next advance is achieved by co-o/diuatiug 
the antagonist errors, ami perceiving that 
they are opiiosite sides of one truth, so Vv'e 
are now coming to the conviction that body 
end mind must both be cared for, and the 
whole being uufuided. The forcing system 
lias been in great measure given up, and pre- 
cocity is discouraged. People arc beginning 
lo bee that the fi;st requisite to success in 
life is to 1)3 a good animal. The best brain 
ia found of little service if there be not 
enough vital energy to work it ; and hence 
to obtain the one by sacrificing the source of 
thf3 other is now considered a folly — a folly 
which the eventual failure of juvenile prodi- 
gies constantly illustrates. Thus we are dis- 
covering the wisdom of the saying, (hat one 
eecret in education is " to know how wisely 
to lose time." 

The once universal practice of learning by 
rote is daily falling more into discredit. All 
mofiern authorities condemn the old mechan- 
ical v/ay of teaching the alplml)et. The nml- 
tiplication table is now fieqiienily taught ex- 
perimentally. In the acquirement (d' lan- 
guages the gramraar-schiiol plan is being 
superseded by plans based on the spontane- 
ous process followed by the child in gaining 
its mother tongue. Deseribing the methods 
(here used, the "TJepoits on the Training- 
School at Battersea" say: "The instruc- 
tion in the whole preparatory course is 
chiefly oral, and is illustrated as much as 
possible by appeals to nature." And so 
throughout. The rote-system, like other 
eyslenis of its age, made more of the; forms 
and symbols than of tiie things symbolized. 
To repeat the words correctly was every- 
Uiing ; tounderstand their meaning nntlung : 
find thus the spirit was sacrificed to the letter. 
It is at length perceived that in this case as 
in others, sucii a result is not acciilental but 
uecessary ; that in proportion as Ihireisat- 
tenti./n to the signs there must be inal tent inn 
to the thiugs signihed ; or tliat, as i\Iontaignc 
I.mg ago sail, iS(javoir par ci'tii' n'cat pas 

Along with rnte-teacliing is declining also 
tiie neatly allied teaching by rules. The 
particulars fi'st, and tlu-n the generalization, 
13 the new melhod — a method, a-? the Batter- 
sea School Reports remark, which, though 



" the reverse of the method usually follower!, 
■which consists in giving the put;il the rule 
first," is yet proved by experience to be the 
right one. Rule teaching is now condemned 
as imparting a merely empirical knowledge 
— as producing an apnearan'-! of understand- 
ing without tlie reality. To give (he net 
prijduct of inijuiry, v,'ithout the inquiry that; 
leads to it, i.s found iu be both enervating 
and inefficient. General truths, to lie of due 
and p.!rmfinent use, must be earned. " Ea.sy 
come easy go" is a tayiug as applicable lo 
knoAdedge as to wealth. While lules, lying 
isidated iu the mind — not jninel to its ruber 
contents as outgrowths fmm thcrn — are con- 
tinually forgotten, the principles which those 
rules expre.-s piecemeal becoine, whei once 
reached by the understanding, enduring p(;s- 
sessions. While the rulo-l aught youth is at 
sea when beyond his rules, iho youth in- 
structed i:; principles solves a new case as 
readily as an old one. Between a mind of 
rules and a mind of principles there exists 
a difference such as th;it between a confusi-d 
heap of materials and th^i same mate ials 
organized into a complete wh'jle, wrtli ail ha 
parts bound together. Of winch types this 
last has not only the advantage (!iat its con- 
stituent i>arls are better retained, but the 
much greater advantage, that it forms an 
efilcient agent for inr^uiry, for independent 
thought, fur discovery — ends for wldch the 
first is useless. Nor "ht it be sunp>osed that 
this is a simile only : it is the literal truth. 
The union of facts into generalizations is 
the organi;;ation of knov.dedge, whether cou- 
sidered as an objective phunomeuon or a 
subjective one ; and the mental grasp may 
be measured by the extent to which this 
organization is carried. 

From the substitution of principles for 
rules, and the necessarily co-ordinate prac- 
tice of leaving abstractions untaught until 
the mind lias been familiarized with the fact,> 
from vsliich they are abstracted, has lesuittd 
the po'-(p;;neinent cf sume once taiiy studies 
to a late period. This is exemplified in the 
abandonment of that intensely stupid cus- 
tom, tlie leaching of grammar to chiidn-n. 
As M. Marcel says: "It may without licsi- 
tatii'u be ahirmed that giair.mar is not i;>u 
stepping-st me, hut thelinishing instrument." 
As Mr. Wy.-e a.rg.ies : " Gramn;ar and syn- 
tax are a cjllectiun of laws and rules. Rules 
are gatherrd from practice ; ihey are the re- 
sults of induction to which we cuuic by long 
observati'^n and CfMiiptiriaon of facts. It is, 
in fine, the scieuc , the philosophy of lan- 
guage. In follow in* the process of nature, 
neitner individuals nor nations ever ar"ire at 
the science, ///'■< A language is .'•■poken, and 
poetry wii/ten, many years befi.ie either a 
grammar or prusody is cvcn (bought of. jVIeii 
did nut wait till Ansti.tle hai' constructed his 
logic, to reafcon. In short, as grammar was 
made after language, s:t ought ii. (o l)e taught 
after language ; an inference wliich all who 
recognize the relationship iietween tlie evo- 
lutinn of the race and of the individual will 
see to be unavoidable. 



EDUCATION: INTELLECTUAL, MORAL. AND PHYSICAL. 



277 



Of now practices tliat have grown up 
rtniin^ liie (iecline of these oKl dues, the most 
ininortant is the f.y.stemulic culluio of tiie. 
powers of observation. After long ages of 
blindness men aie at last seeing that the 
spontaaeous activity of the observing facul- 
ties in children has a meaning and a use. 
What was once thoviglit ineK! purposeless 
action, or piaj', o;- miscliicf, as 1 he case niigiit 
be, is uow recoonized as the process of ac- 
quiring a knowledge on wiiich all after- 
knowledge is based. Hence the well-con- 
ceive. 1 but ill-conducted system of objecUes- 
sons. Tiie saying of Bacon, that physics is 
themotlier cf sciences, has come to have a 
meaning in education. Without iui accurate 
actpiainlance with the vifeil)le and tangible 
properties of things, our conception;; must be 
erroneous, our infeiences fallacious, and our 
opeiations uusucci ssful. " The education 
of the senses neglected, all after-education 
partakes of a drowsiness, a haziness, an in- 
Buthciency v.-hich it is impossible to cure." 
Indeed, if vre consider it, we shall f.nd that 
exhaustive observation is an element in all 
great success. It is not to artists, natural- 
ists, and men of science only tliat it is need- 
ful ; it is not only that liie skilful piiysician de- 
pends on it for the correctness (f his diag- 
nosis, and that to the good engineer it is so 
important that some years in the workshop 
are prescribed for him ; but we may see that 
the philosopher also is f(mdamentally one 
who observes lelalionships cf things which 
others had overlooked, and that tlie poet, 
too, is one who sees the fine facts iu nature 
which all recognize when pointed out, but 
did not before remark. Nothing requires 
more to be insisted on than that vivitl and 
com[)lete imprcEsions are all essential. No 
Bound fal)'.ic of wisdom can be woven out of 
a rotten raw-material. 

While the old method of presenting truths 

I in the abstract has been falling out of use, 
there has been a corresponding ailoplion of 
the new method of presenting them in the 
concrete. The rudimentary facts of exact 
science are now being learned by direct intu- 
ition, as textures, and tastes, and colors are 
learned. Employing the ball-frame for fi:st 
le?.sons iu aritiuuetic exemplilies this. It is 
well illustialed, too, in Professor Do Mor- 
gan's mode of explaining the decimal nota- 
tion. M. Marcel, riglyily repudiating liie old 
system of tables, teaches weif^hts and meas- 
ures by refezring to the actual yard and loot, 
pound and ounce, gallon ami quart, and 
if Is the discovery of their relationships be 
experimental. Tl» use of geographical 
models and models of the regular bodies, 
etc., as introductory to geography and geoni 
ctry lesptclively, are facts of the same class. 
Manifestly a common trait of these methods 
is that they carry each child's mind Ihrougli 
a puxtess like that wiiich the mind of 
humanity at large has gone throuffli. The 
truths of number, of form, of relationship in 
position, were all originally drawn fiom ob- 
jects ; and to present these truths to the 

. child in the concrete is to let him learu th^m 



as the race learned them. By and by, per- 
haps, it will bo seen that he cannot possibly 
learn them in any other way ; fi,r that if he 
is made to lepetlt them as abat: actions, the 
abstractions can have uo meaning lor him 
until he finds that they are simply statements 
of what he intuitively discerns. 

But of all the changes taking place, the 
mjst signidcant is th„' growing desire to 
malie the arcjuiremenc of knowledge pleas- 
uiabie rather than painful — a desire based ou 
the luMe or less distinct perception that at 
each age the intellectual acii(m which a child 
Lkes is a healthful one for it, and conversely. 
There is a spreading opinion that the rise of 
an appetite for any km<i of knowledge im- 
plies that the unfolding mind has become fit 
to assimilate it, and needs it for the pur- 
poses of growth, and that, ou the other 
hand, the disgust felt toward any kind of 
knowledge is a sign either that it is prema- 
tui-ely presented, or that it is pieseuied in an 
indigestible form. Hence the efforts to 
luake early education amusing and all edu- 
cation interesting. Hence the lectures on 
the value of play. Hence the defence of 
nursery rhymes and fairy tales. Daily we 
more and more conform our plans to juvenile 
opinion. Does the child like this or that 
kin;i of teaching? does he take to it? we 
constantly ask. " His natural desire of 
variety should be indulged," says M. Mar- 
eel; " and the gratilicatiou of his curiosity 
should be combined with his improvement." 
" Lessons," he again remarks, " should cease 
before the child evinces symptoms of weari- 
ness." Aud so with later educati/ai. Siiort 
breaks during school-hours, excursions into 
the country, amusing lectures, choral songs — 
in these and many like traits the changcj 
may bo discerned. Asceticism is disappear- 
ing out of education as out of life, and Iha 
usual test of political legislation — its ten- 
dency to promote happiness — is beginning to 
be, iu a great degree, the test of legislaliou 
for the school and the nursery. 

Vv^hat now is the coram )n characteristic of 
these several ciiangesV Is it not an increas- 
ing conformity to the methods of nature? 
The relin luisameat of early forcing, against 
which ual;are ever rebels, and tiie leaving of 
the lirst years for exercise of the limbs and' 
senses show this. The superseding of rote- 
learned lessms Ijy lessons orally and experi- 
mentally given, like In >so of the field and 
play-ground, sh)v7s this. Tiie diiusa _ of 
rule- teaching, and the adoption of teaching 
by principles— tiiat is, the leaving of generat 
izations until there are particulars to base 
them on — show this. Taj sy sieai of objec!;- 
lessous shows Liiis. The teaching of the 
rudiments of science in the oacrets instead 
of the abstract shows this. And, above all, 
this tendency is shown in the variously di- 
rected efforts to present knowledge in attrac- 
tive forms, and so to make the acquirement 
of it pleasurable. For as it is tae order of 
nature iu all creatures that the gratiticatioa 
accompinyingthe fuifliiueutof needful func- 
lioas servei as a slioiulus to their fulfilmeat 



278 



EDUCATION: INTELLECTUAL, MORAL. AND PHYSICAL. 



— s.'i d'dt-'iu^ the self-eJucation of the youuii 
child the lielii^.it taken in the biting ui 
corals ua i tiii-; iJuUiug to pieces of: toys bu- 
C'jm3S tlie p.'d-upter lo actious wliinh teaca 
it th ; propel lies of matter, it follows Uial, 
in cl! >o.-5iu^ tlie succession of subjects auJ 
tiie ni) lr;s of i!islru('lii)n wuich mjst mturest 
the pupil, we are fulliliiug nature's bv'lijsts, 
and adjusting our proceedings to the laws of 
life. 

Thus, then, we are on the highway toward 
the doctrine long ag; eauaci.iied by Pjsla 
lozzi, that alike in its order and its uv.'tliods 
education mast coaf orm to the natural pro- 
cess of mental evolution— that there is a cer- 
tain sequence in which the faculties spon- 
taneously develop, and a certain kind of 
knowledge which each requires daiing its 
development, aui that it is for us to ascer- 
tain this sequiuce and supply this kuiwl- 
edge. All tae improvements above alluded 
to are partial appiicalious of this genc-ral 
principle. A nebulous perception of it now 
prevails among teachers, anil it is daily m tre 
insisted on in educational works, " The 
method of nature is the archetype of all 
methods," says M. Marcel. "The vilal 
principle in lue pursuit is to enable the 
pupil rightly to instruct himself," writes Mr. 
Wyse. Tne nioie science famiiiarizes us 
with the constitution of things the n\n-e do 
we see in them an inherent oelf-suUiciiigness. 
A higher kuowledge tends continually to 
limit our interference with the processes of 
life. As in medicine the old " heroic treat- 
ment" has given place to mild treadnent, and 
often no treatment save a normal regimen — 
as we have found that it is not needful to 
mould the bodies of babes by bandaging 
them in papoose fashion or otherwise — as in 
jails it is being discovered that no cunningly 
devised discipline of ours is so etiicieut m 
producing reformation as the natural disci- 
pline, I he making prisoners maintain them- 
seh'es by productive labor, so in education 
we are hmiiug that success is to be achieved 
only by leuderiug our measures subservient 
to that spontaneous untolaing which all 
minds go through in their piogitss lo ma- 
turity. 

Of course this fundamental principle of 
tuition, thiit the aiiangement of matter and 
method must correspond with the older of 
evolution ami mode of activit\^ ot tlie facul- 
ties — a piiuciple so obviously true that once 
stated it seeins almost self-evident — has never 
been wholly disregarded. Teachers have 
unavoidably made their school-courses coin- 
cide with it in some degiee, for the sinqiie 
reason that education is possiiile only on that 
condition. Boys were never taught the lule- 
of-three until after tiiey had learned addition. 
They were not set to write exercises befoie 
they hatl gut into their copy-books. Conic 
sections have always been preceded by 
Euclid. But the enor of the old mellio !s 
consists in this, that they do not recognize in 
detail what they are obliged to recognize in 
the general. Yet the piiuciple appl.es 
throughout. If from the t.me when a cuilU 



is able to conceive two things as related in 
position, years muht t lapse before it cau 
form a true (■once[)t of the earth, as a sphere 
made up ot laud and sea, covered with 
mountains, forests, rivers, and cities, revolv- 
ing on us axis, and sweeping round the suu 
— It it gets from the one concept lo the other 
b/ degrees — if the intermediate concepts 
which It forms are consecutively Luger and 
m ire complicated, is it not manifest that 
Inere is a general succession through which 
only it can pass ; that each laiger concept i? 
ma ie by the combination of smaller ones, 
and presupposes them ; and that to piescnl 
any of these compound concepts belore the 
ciiil I is in possession of its couslilueut ones 
is only less absurd than to pies; nt the lina? 
concept of the seues before the initial one ? 
In the m:isleiing of every subject some 
cour&e of increasingly comi)]ex iueas luis to 
be g jna through. Tiie evolution of the cor- 
responding faculties consisis in the assimila- 
tion of tht,se, which, iu any true sense, i? 
impossible without they are put into the 
mind in the normal order. And when this 
order is not fi.'Uowed, the result is that they 
are received with aixituy or disgust ; an<* 
that unless the pupil is intelligent enough t(^ 
eventually fill up the gaps himself, liiey lie In 
his meiujiy as dead facts, capable of being 
turned to little or no use. 

" But why trouble ourselves about any 
curriealajti at all V it may be asked. " If it 
be true that the mind like (he boely has a 
predetermined course of evolution — if it un- 
folds spontaneously — if its successive desires 
for this or that kind of informalion arise 
when these are severally required for its uu- 
tiilion — if there thus exists in itself a prompter 
to the riglit species of activity at the light 
time, why interfere iu any v/ay ? Why not 
leave children u-hoUy to the discipline of na- 
ture? why not remain quite i»assive and let 
them get knowledge as they best can ? why 
not be consistent throughout V" This is an 
awkwaid-looking question. Plausibly im- 
plying as it doL^s that a system of complete 
laissez-faiye is the icgicai outcome of the doc- 
trines set forth, it seems to furnish a dispioof 
of them by reduclh ad ab-siirdain. In truth, 
however, they do not, when rightly under- 
stood, commit us to any such uniruable posi- 
tion. A glance at the physical analogies will 
cleaily show this. It is a general law of all 
life that the more complex the organism to 
be pioduced, the longer the peri.)d during 
which it is dependent on a parent organism 
for too 1 and protection. The contrast be- 
tween the muuUe, rapid^-forined, and self- 
moving spoie ot a conferva, and the slowly- 
devel'jped seed of a tree, v/ith its multiplied 
envelopes and large stock of nulrimeni laid 
by to nourish the germ during its first stages 
of grortih, illusliaies ihis law in its applica- 
tion to the vegetable world Am mg animal 
organisms we may trace it iu a series of con- 
tra.^ls from Ihe monad wliose s[)(.iilaueously- 
divided halves are as silf-sulhciog Ihe mo- 
ment alter their separalion as w;,s tlie origi- 
nal whole, up to man, whose clispuug noi, 



EDUCATION: INTELLECTUAL, MORAL. AND PHYSICAL. 



2",i 



only passes llirougli a protracted gestation, 
aud subsequently lung aepends on llie hi east 
fur susltniiuce, but .il'lor iIkul inusl have its 
fooil urtillcially adraiuihtertd, must, after it 
has learned to feed ilself, cuulinuH la have 
bread, cluthi'Ji? and .'heller piovidcd, aud 
does not acquire the power of ci nuilttt self- 
support until a time varying fieni llfieen to 
twenty ytars after lis birth. Now ihis law 
applies to the mind as to ttie bcjdy. For 
miinUJ pabulum also every liigher cieature, 
and especially man, is at hist dependent ou 
adult aid. Lael;iug the ability tn move 
about, the Labc is as powcikss to get inate- 
lials on whicli to exeicise its peiceplions as 
it is to get supplies lor its stomach. Unable 
to pieiiaie its own food, it is in hke manner 
uuabltJ la reduce many kinds of knowledge 
to a fit form foi assimilation. The lunguage 
through whieii ail higher truths aje to be 
gained it v^'holly derives from those sur- 
rounding it. And vve see in such an exam- 
ple as the Wild Boy cf Ave^ ron ihc arrest 
of development that lesuils wlien no help is 
received from pai'ents aud nmses. Thus, in 
providing fiom day to day the right kind of 
facts, piepaieel in the right manner, and giv- 
ing tium ill due abuuiianee at a[)propriate in- 
tervals, ilieie is as much scope for active 
mmistralicn !o a chdd's mind as to its body. 
In either case it is tlie chief function of par- 
ents to see thai the condUions lecpiisite to 
giowih are maintained. And as in supply- 
ing aliment, and clothing, aud shelter, Ihey 
may fulfil this function without at all inter- 
feriug witli the spontaneous development of 
the lind)s and viscera, either irr their order or 
mode, so they may supply sounds for imita- 
tion, objecls for examination, books for read- 
ing, piolilems for soludou, and if the}^ use 
neither diiect nor indirect coercion, may do 
this wilhout in any way distiirbuig the nor- 
mal piocess of menial evolution ; or rather 
may greatly facilitate that piocess. Hence 
tue admission of the doctiines enunciated 
does nol, as some miiiht argue, involve the 
abaudoumeut of all teaching, but leaves am 
pie room for an acuve and elaboiate course 
of cultuie. 

Passing from generalities to special consid- 
erations, it is to be remaiiied that in puictice 
the Pestali)zzian sji stem seems scarcely to 
have fulfilled the promise of its theory. 
We hear of children net at all interested in 
ilslessous— (iisgufcted with them i at her ; and, 
so far as we can gather, the Pcslalo/.zian 
schools have not turned out any unusual pro- 
perllon of distinguished men, if even they 
have leached the aveiage. We are ui;t sur- 
prised at this. The success of every appli- 
ance depends mainly upcm the intelligence 
with which it is used. It is a tiite reniaik 
that, having the choiccsl (ools, an unskilful 
arlisan will botch his vvoik ; and bad teachers 
will fail even with ihe best methods. Indeed, 
the goodness of the method becomes in such 
case a caute of failure ; as, to continue the 
simile, the pei fection of the tool becomes in 
undisciplined liauds a source of iinpei fection 
in results. A simple, unchanging, almost 



mechanical routine of tuition may be cj'Ti'id 
out iiy the commonest inlcllects, with such 
small" beneficial effect as it is capable of pio- 
riucing ; but a complete system — a sj'slem a? 
heterogeneous in its appliances as ihe mind 
in its facultif-s — a system proposing a special 
means for (ach special end, deuiands f<»r it? 
right employmeul powers such as few teach- 
eis po.ssess. The mistress of a d;ime .schoof 
can hear spelling lessons ; any hedge-school- 
master can drill boys in the mull iplication- 
table ; but to teach spelling rightly hy usirg 
the powers of the letters instead of their 
names, or to instruct in numerical combina- 
tions by expeiimental s^'nthesis, a modicum 
of understanding is needful ; and to pursue a 
like rational course throughout the entire 
range of studies asks an amount of judg- 
ment, of invention, of iniellectual sjnipathy, 
of analytical faculty, which we shall never 
see applied to it while the tutorial office i-^ 
held in such small esteem. The true educa- 
tion is practicable only to the true philos- 
opher. Judge, then, what prospect a philo- 
sophical method now has of being acted out t 
Knowing so little as we yet do cf psychol- 
ogy, and ignorant as our teachers are of tha.*- 
little, what chance has a system which re- 
quires psychology for its basis? 

Furtlier hindrance and discouragement ha*^ 
arisen from confounding the Pestalozziau 
principle with the forms in which it has been 
embodied. Because particular plans have 
not auswei'ed expectation, discredit has been 
cast upon the doctrine associated with them, 
no inquiry being made whether these plans 
truly conform to such doctiine. Judging as 
usual by the concrete rather than the ab- 
stract, men have blamed the theory for the 
bunc;lings of the practice. It is as though 
Papiu-'s futile attempt to construct a steam- 
engine had beeu held to prove that steam 
could not be used as a motive power. Let it 
be constantly borne, in mind that while right 
in his fundamental ideas Pestalozzi was not 
therefore right in all his applications of 
them ; and we believe the fact to be that he 
was often wrong. As described even by his 
admirers, Pestalozzi was a man of partial in- 
tuitions, a man who had occasional flashes of 
insight rather than a man of systematic 
thought. His first great success at Stantz 
was achieved when he had no books or ap- 
pliances of ordinary teaching, aud when 
" the only object of his attention was to find 
out at each momeutwhat instruction his chil- 
dren stood peculiarly in need of, and what 
was the best manner of connecting it with 
the knowledge they already possessed." 
jSluch of his power was due, not to calmly 
reasoned-out plans of culture, but to his pro- 
found sympathy, which gave him an in- 
stinctive perception of childish needs and ditfl- 
culties. He lacked the ability logically to 
co-ordinate and develop the truths which he 
thus from time to lime laid hold of, and had 
in great measure to leave this to his assist- 
ants, Kruesi, Tobler, Buss, Niederer, aud 
Bchinid. The lesult is that in their detaila 
his own plans, aud those vicaiiouly devised. 



2S0 



EDUCATION: INTELLECTUAL, MORAL, AND PHYSICAL. 



contain numerous crudilies and inconsisten- 
cies. His nursery-method, described in 
" TlieMotiier'sMuuuui," begiDnin^ijas itdocs 
T.'ith a nomenclature of llie diiiereht parts 
of th3 body, and proceeding u.ixt to specify 
tlieir rulativo positions, and Bv\t tlieir con- 
nections, may be proved not at :i!l in accoid- 
ance witli tlie initial slngL'S of mrntal evolu- 
tion. His j)rocess of ttucliing the motlier- 
tougue by formal exercises in the meauiniJ-s 
of vv'ords and in the construction of sen- 
tences, is quite needless, and must entail on 
the pnpil loss of time, labor, and happiness. 
His proposed mode of teaching geography is 
utterly unpcstalozziaa. And often where his 
plans i;re e^^senlially sound they aie either iu- 
complele or viliated by some remnant of the 
old regime. Whiie, therefore, we would de- 
fend in its entire extent the geneial doctrine 
■which Peslidozzi inauguraied, we think great 
evil likely to result from an uncritical recep- 
tion of his specific devices. That teutlency 
v.'hich manlciad c-mstanlly exhibit to canon- 
ize the fosms and practices vAong with which 
any great truth has been "nequeathcd to them 
— their liability to prostrate Iheir intellects 
before the prophet, and swear by his every 
woid — iheir pi'meness to mistake the cloth- 
ing of the idea lor the idea ilself, renders it 
needful to insist strongly upon the distinc- 
tion between the fundamnnial principle of 
the Pestalozzian sysieni, and the set of expe- 
dients devised for its practice ; and to sug- 
gest that Vv'iide the one may be considered as 
established, Ihe oilier is probably nothing but 
an adumbration of the normal course. In- 
deed, on lor;kiug at Ihe stite of our knowl- 
edge, we may be (juite sure that this is the 
case. Before our educational methods can 
be made to harmonize in (diaracter and ar- 
rangement With the facullies in their mode 
and Older of unfolding, ills fiist needfid that 
"We Hscerlain with some completeness how 
Ihe facullies do unfold. At pitsent our 
knowledge of the matter extends only to a 
fewgeneial notions. These general notions 
must be developed in detail — must be trans- 
formed into a nudtitude of S[iecitic pioposi- 
ticns, before we can be said to possess that 
sciehce on which the art of education must be 
baseii. And then Avhen we have definitely 
made out in what succession and in what 
combinations the mental piAveis liecome ac- 
tive, it lemainstochooseout of the many pos- 
sible ways of exercising each of them that 
which best coirforms to its na'ural mode of 
action. Evidently, therefore, it is not to be 
supposed that even our most advanced modes 
of teaching are the right ones, or nearly the 
riglit ones. 

lieaving in mind then this distinction be- 
tween the principle and the practice of Pes- 
talozzi, and inferring fium llie grt)Uiids as- 
h-igned tiiat (he last mutt necessarily be very 
defective, the reaiier will rate at its (rue 
worth the dissatisfaction with the system 
whicli S(?me h:ive cx\)re5-sed, and will see 
ihat the due realization of the Pestaluzzian 
'dea lemalns to be achievjd. Should he 
argue, however, lium what has just been 



said, that no such realization is at present 
practicable, and that all effort ought to be 
devoted to the preliminary inquiry, we le- 
ply, that though it is not posiiblc for a 
scheme of culture to bo perfected either in 
matter or form until a rational ps^'cholcgy 
has been estabhshed, it is possible, with tlie 
aid of certain guiding principles, to make 
empiiical approximations toward a perfect 
scheme. To prepare the way for further re- 
searcn we will now specify these piinciples. 
Some of them have already been more or less 
distinctly implied in the foregoing pages ; 
but it will be well here to state them all in 
logicrd order. 

1. That in education we should proceed 
from the simple to the complex is atiuth 
v/hich has always been to some extent acted 
upon ; nut professedly, indeed, nor by any 
means consistently. The mind grows. Like 
all things that grow, it progresses from the 
homogeneous to the heterogeneous; and a nor- 
mal training system being an objective coun- 
teipart of this subjective process, must ex- 
hibit the like progressii.n. Moreover, re- 
garding it from this point of view, we may 
see that this formula has much wider appli- 
cations than at first appears. For its tatio)i 
ale involves not only that we should proceed 
from the single to the combined in the teach- 
ing of each branch of knowledge, but that 
we should do the hkc with knowledge as a 
whole. As the mind, consisting at tirst o) 
but few active faculties, has its iater-com 
pleted faculties successively awakened, and 
ultimately comes to have all its faculties iu 
simultaneous action, it follows that our 
teaching should begin with but few subjtcts 
at once, and successively adding to these, 
should finally carry on all subjects abreast — 
that not only in its details should education 
proceed from the simple to the complex, but 
in its eni<emble also. 

2. To say that our lessons ought to start 
from the concrete and end in the abstract 
may be considered as in part a repetition of 
the foregoing. Nevertheless it is a maxim 
that needs to be stated : if with no other 
view, then with the view of showing in cer- 
tain cases what are truly the sinii)le and the 
complex. For unfortunately there h s been 
much misunderstanding on this point. Gen- 
eral formulas which men have devised to ex- 
press groups of details, and which have sev- 
erally simplified iheii conceptions by uniting 
many facts into one fact, they have supposed 
must simplify the conceptions of the child 
also, quite forgetting that a generalizaliua 
is simple only in comparison with the whole 
mass of particular truths it com]>rchends — ■ 
that it is more complex than any one of these 
truths taken singly — that only after many of 
these single truths have been acquired does 
the generalization ease the memory and help 
the leason — and that to the child not possess- 
ing these single truths it is necessarily a mys- 
tery. Thus"c(;nfounding two kinds of sim- 
plilication, teacheis have constantly eired by 
selling out with "fiist piinciples," a pro- 
ceeding essentially, though not apparently. 



EDUCATION: INTELLECTUAL, MOr.AL, AND PHYSICAL. 



281 



at variance with the primary rule, which 
implies that the mind ehould be introduced 
to principles through the medium of exam- 
ples, jind so should be led from the particu- 
lar to the general — from the concrete to the 
abstract. 

8. The education of the child must accord 
both in mode f.nd urrangcmcDt with the etiu- 
ctilion of mankind as considered hi?tcricrJiy ; 
or, iu other woids. the genesis of knowledge 
in the iudiv idual must follow the same coiu&e 
as the genesis of knowledge in the race. To 
M. C'.miU! we bilieve soeicty owes the enuu- 
ciaticn <;f tiiis doetiine— a doctrine wliith we 
may acccjt withor.t coramitling oursclvis to 
Ills theory of the genesis of knowledge, either 
ia its causes or il8 order. In support of this 
di'Cttine two reasons may be at signed, cither 
of Ihem siiliicient to establish it. One is de- 
duciijle f loni the law of hereditary transmis- 
sion as coniide"ed in its wider consequences. 
For if it be tiue that men exhibit likeness to 
ancestiy both in aspect i'.nd character — if it 
T.ie true that ceriaiu mental manifeslatinns, as 
■insanity, will cctnr in succtssive numbers of 
the same family at the s;unc igc — if, past,ing 
from individual cases in wliicii the traits of 
many dead anctstois mixing with those of a 
few Jiving ones greatly obscure the law, we 
turn to national types, and remark h')\v tI:o 
contrasts between them are persistent from 
age to age — if we remember that these re- 
spective types came frcm a common slock, 
and that hence the picsent maiked uifAr 
ences between them must have aiisen frcm 
the action of modifying circumstances upon 
successive geaciatimis Vvho sevcraliy tians- 
mitted the accumulated cirects to iLeir de-- 
scendanis — if we find the diHercnces to be 
now orgauie, to that the French child grows 
into a French man t\eu when brought up 
among sliangt rs — and if the gencr .1 fact thus 
illustrated is true of the wiiole nature, intel- 
hx-t inclusive, then it, follosvs that if there be 
an order iu which the human lace has mas- 
tered its vaiious kinds of knov.jedge, there 
v;ill arise in every child an aptitude to aceiuire 
these kinds of knowledge in the same older. 
So that even vuiq the order intrinfieally in- 
diffcrcrt, ilAvould iacililate tducatum to lead 
tiie individual nund through the sleps trav- 
ersetl by th^ genual mind. But the Oider is 
iir)t intiinsically inuilTerent, and hence the 
fundamental reason v.'hy education should be 
a repetit.on ot ctviiizaiion iu little. It is 
ulJke provable that tiio historical sequence 
was iu its main eutlines a necessaiy one, and 
that the caui^es ■wiiich determined it apply to 
the child as to the race. Not to specify these 
causes iu detad. it will sullJce here to pv^int 
out that as the mind of humanity placed iu 
the midst of ]Junomena, and striving to c;m- 
prclitud them has, after endless comparisons, 
sieculallons, experiments, and theories, 
reached its present knowledge of each subj-et 
by a specific route, it may laliorialiy be in 
feired that tlie relationship belween mind and 
phenomena is such as to prevent this knowl- 
edge from being reached by any other route, 
and that as c'ucu cLllu's mind tiiauds lu this 



same relationship to phencmena, they can l;c 
accessible to it only through the same route. 
Hence in deci^ling upon the right melhed of 
etIucHliou, an inquiry into the method of civ- 
ilization will help lo guide us. 

4. One of tlie conclusions to which such 
an inquiry leads, is tii-:it in each branch of 
instrucliLin we should proceed Ironi tJie em- 
pirical to tlie rational. A IrarMcg fact in hu- 
man pro ress is tiiul e' e;y science is evolved 
out of its corresponding art. It results from 
the necessity we are under, both individually 
and as a race, of reaeliiug Iht abstract by 
way of the coaerele, that there must l.te prac- 
tice and an accruing experience with its eiU- 
pirical generalizations before there can hz 
science. Science is organized knowledge ; 
and before knowledge can be organized, 
some of it must first lie possessed. Every 
study, therefore, should ha^'e a purely ex- 
perimental introducliou ; and only after aa 
ample fuud of observatiims lias been accu- 
mulated should reasoning begin. As illus- 
trative applications of this rule, we may in- 
stance the modern course of placing grain- 
mar, not before language but after it ; or 
the ordinary custom of prefacing perspective 
by practical dravv'ing. By and by fiirlher 
applications of it will be indicited. 

5. A secou i corollary from the foregoing 
general punciph;. and one whieii cannot be 
too strenuously insisted upon, is that iu ed- 
ticition tiie proc:;ss of self-developmjut 
should be encouraged to the fullest extent. 
Children should be led to make their owu in- 
vest igations, and to draw their own infer- 
ences. Tliey should be told as little as pos- 
sible, and induced to dlsconer -as much as pos- 
sible. Humanity has progressed solely byself- 
instiuctiou ; and that to achieve the best re- 
sults each mind muot progress somewhat 
after the same fashion is continually proved 
bv the marked success of self-made men. 
Those wdio have been brouglit up uu ler the 
ordinary school-drill, and have carried away 
wiili them tiie idea that education is practi- 
cable only in that style, will think it hopeless 
to make cliil Ireu their own teachers. If, 
however, tliey will call to mind that the ail- 
important kiio^vledge of surreiunding object! 
which a child gets in its early years is got 
without help — if they will remember that the 
child ii^ self-taught in the use of its mother- 
tongue— if they will estimate the amount of 
thai experience of life, that out-of-sehool wis- 
dom which every boy gathers for himself — if 
they will mark the unusual iuielligeuce of 
the uncared-for Loanon gaiti'n, as shown in 
all the (lireclions in waich his faculties iiavo 
been taski'd — if, further, they v/ill think hovr 
many minis liave struggled up unaided, not 
only tlu-.)Ugli tlie mysteries of our irration- 
ally-planned carriculnm, but through hosts of 
other obstacles besieles, they will find it a 
not unreasoualile conrdusion, lh;it if the sub- 
jects be put before him iu right order and 
right form, any pupil of ordinary capacity 
will surmount his successive difficulties v/itU 
but hllle assistance. Who indeed can watch 
the ceaseless observation and inquiry and 



282 



EDUCATION. INTELLECTUAL. MORAL, AND PHYSICAL. 



inference gaing on in a child's mind, or listen 
to its amite icmaiks on malters within Ihe 
range of itsfacullies, without perceiving that 
these powers which it inanifists.'if i)i-()iight 
to bear systematically upon any studies with- 
in (he same range, would rcatlily master tbein 
without liclp? This need for perpetual tell- 
ing is the r.'sult of our stupidity, nut of llie 
child's. We drag it away from the facts in 
whicli it is interested, an.l which it is actively 
assimilaiiug of ilself ; we put before it facts 
far too comple.K for it to understand, and 
therefore distasteful to it ; finding that it will 
not volunlaiily acquire these facts, we llirust 
them into its mind by force of threats and 
punishment ; by thus denying the knowledge 
it cravts, and cramming it witii knovvdedge it 
cannot digest, we produce a moi bid state of 
its faculties, and a consequent disgust for 
knowh'dge in general ; and when, as a result 
partly of the stolid iudolenc^e we liave brought 
on, and partly of still continued unfitness in 
its studies, ihe child can understand nothing 
without explanation, and iK'Comes a mere 
passive recipient of our instruction, we infer 
that education must necessniily be carried on 
thus. Having by our method induced help- 
lessness, we straightway make the helpless- 
ness a reason for our method. Clearly then 
the experience of pedagogues cannot ration- 
ally be quoted against the doctrine we are de- 
feud ing. And whoever sees this will see that 
we may safely follow the method of nature 
throughout — may, by a skilful ministration, 
makethe mind as self-developing in its later 
stages as it is in its earlier ones ; and that 
only by doing this can we produce the high- 
est power and activity. 

(J. As a final test by which to judge any 
plan of cultuie should come (he question. 
Does it create a pleasurable excitement in the 
pupils? When in doubt whether a particu- 
lar mode or ariangement is or is not more in 
harmony with the ton going principles than 
some other, we may safely abide by this cri- 
terion. Even when, as considered theoreti- 
cally, the pioposeil course seems the best, yet 
if it proiluce no interest, or less interest than 
another couise, we should leliucjuish it ; for 
a chil i's iulelleclual instincts aie moie Irust- 
wurlhy than our reasonings. In respect to 
the knowing faculties we may confidently 
trust in the geueial law, that under normal 
conditions healthful action is pleasurable, 
while action which gives pain is not health- 
ful. Tliough at present very incompletely 
conformed to by the emotional nature, yet by 
the intellectual ualuie, or at least by those 
parts of It which the child exhibits, this law 
is almost wholly conformed to. The repug- 
nances to (his and that study -which vex the 
ordina'y teacher uve not innate, but result 
from his luiwise system, lellenberg says, 
" Ex()crien('e has taught me that indolence in 
young p( rsons is so diiectly cip[iosiie to their 
natural disposition to activity that unless it 
IS the consequence of bad education it is al- 
m:>st iuvarialtly connected with Bijme consti- 
tutional defect." And the spontaneous ac- 
tivity to which children arc thus prone is 



simply the pursuit of those jileasurcs whicli 
the healthful exercise of the fai.-ulliis gives. 
It is true that some of the higher nicnta? 
t»oweis as yet but little developerl in the race, 
and cougenitally possessed in any cousidca- 
ble degiee only by the most advanced, are in- 
disposed to the auDunt of txtriiou required 
of them. But these, in virtue of their very 
complexity, will, in a nf)rmal course of cul- 
ture, come last into exercise, and will there- 
fore have no demands made upon them unti' 
the pupil has arrived at an age when uUerio'' 
motives can be brought into play, and an in- 
direct pleasure made to counterbalance h 
direct displeasure. With all faculties low- 
er than these, however, the direct gratifi- 
cation conscfjueut on activity is the normal 
stimulus, and xmder good management the 
only needful stinrulus. When we are obliged 
to fall back upon some other, we must take 
the fact as evidence (hat we are on the wrong 
track. Experience is daily showing witn 
greater clearness that there is ahvays a 
method to be found productive of interest — 
even of delight ; and it ever turns out tiiat 
this is the method proved by all other tests to 
be the light one. 

With most, these guiding principles will 
weigh but little if left in this abstract form. 
Partly, therefore, to exemplify their applica- 
tion, and partly with a view of making sun- 
dry specific suggestions, we propose now to 
pass from the theory of education to the 
practice of it. 

It was the opinion of Pcstalozzi — an opin- 
ion which has ever since his day been gain- 
ing ground — that education of some kind 
should begin from the cradle. Whoever has 
watched, with any discernment, the wide- 
eyed gaze of the infant at surrounding ob- 
jects knows very well that educatien does 
begin thus e;irly, whether we intend it or 
noL ; and that these fingerings and suckings 
of everything it cau lay hold of, these open- 
mtjulhed listenings to every soiuid are the 
first steps in the series which ends in (he dis- 
covery of unseen planets, the invention of 
calculating engines, tiie production of great 
paintings, or tlie c(nnpositiou of symphonies 
and operas. This activity of the faculties 
trom the very first being spontaneous and in- 
evitable, the question is whether we shall 
suppl}' in due variety the materials on which 
they may exercise themselves ; and to the 
question so put none but an alRimative an- 
swer can be given. As before said, however, 
agreement with Pestalozzi's tlienry does not 
involve agreement with his practice ; and 
here occurs a case in point. Treating of in- 
struction in spelling he says : 

" The epelliiig-book onnlit, tlierefore, to contain aH 
the sounds of tlie lju'j,'na!:e, sud tnese oiifjtit to be 
tiiugbt in every f.-iniily fronittie tarliesi infancy. The 
child wlio learns liis HiiellniK-boolc oniilit to repeat 
them to ttic infant in thi- cradle, before it is al)le to 
pionounce tven ont; of tlum, so tliat tiny may be 
(lei ply impressed upon its miud by frequent repeti- 
tion." 

Joining this with the suggestions for " a 
nursery-method," as set down in his " Moth- 
er's Manual," in wdiich he mukes the names. 



EDUCATION: INTELLECTUAL, MORAL, ANI? PIiYSICx\L 



283 



positions, conneclions, mimbtrs, properties, 
and uses of (hu limbs and body his first les- 
sons, it becomes clear that Peslalozzi's no- 
tions on early mental development were too 
crude to enable him to devise judicious plans 
Let us inquire into the course which psychoI- 
ogy dictates. 

The earliest impressions which the mind 
can assimilate are those given to it by the 
uudecomposabl. sensations — resistance light, 
sound, etc. Manifestly decomposable states 
of consciousness cannot exist before the 
states of conscicusness out of which they are 
composed. Thete can be no idea of form 
untd some familiarity with light in its grada- 
tions and qualities, or resistance in its difier- 
ent intensilies, has been acquiied ; for, as 
has been long known, we recognize visible 
foim by means of varieties of light, and 
tangible fyim by means of varieties of resist- 
ance. Similarly, no articulate sound is cog- 
nizable until the inarticulate sounds which 
go to make it up have been learned. And 
thus must it be in every other case. Fol- 
lowing, therefore, the necessaiy law of pio- 
gression from (he simple to the complex, we 
should provide for the infant a sulficiency of 
oi)jects presenting diifen nt degrees and kinds 
of resi.^tance, a sutlicienty of olijects retiect- 
ing different amtiunls and qualities of light, 
and a sidliciency of sounds contrasted in 
their loudness, their pilch and (heir timbre. 
How fully this a jiiiori conclusion is c<in- 
firmed by infantile iustincis all will see on 
being reminded of the delight which every 
young child has in biting its toys, in feel- 
ing its brother's bright jacket-buttons, 
and pulling papa's whiskers — how absorbed 
it becomes in gazing at any gaudily-painted 
object, to which i-t applies the woid " pret- 
tj%" when it can pronounce it, wiiolly in 
virtue of tlie bright colors — and how its face 
broadens into a laugh at the tattlings of its 
nurse, the sna[iping of a visitor's fingers, 
or any sound which it has not before 
heard. Eorlunately, the ordiuarj^ practices 
of the nurseiy fullil these early requirements 
of education to a considerable degree. ^Much, 
however, remains ti.> be done ; and it is of 
more importance that it shcuid be dune than 
at first appears. Every faculty during the 
period of its greatest activity — the ]ieriod in 
which it is spontaneou:-ly cvohiug its( If — is 
capable of receiving moie viviu impressions 
than at any other peiiod. Moreover, as 
those simplest elements must eventually be 
mastered, and as the mastery of them wiien- 
ever achieved must take time, it becomes an 
economy of time to occupy this fiist stage of 
childhood, during which no other intelleciual 
action is possible, in gaining a complete 
familiarity with them in all their modifica- 
tions. A'.id to which that both temper and 
health will be improved by the coutinuid 
gn-.tificatioa resulting from a due supply of 
tliese impiessions which every child so 
greedily assimilates. Space, could it be 
spared, might here be well filled by some sug- 
gestions toward a luore sj^stematiG luiuisiia- 
tioa to these simplest of tne perceptions. 



"^ 



But it must suffice to point out that any such 
ministration ought to l)oba?ed upoii tbe gen- 
eral truth that in the development of every 
faculty markedly contrasted impressions are 
the first to be distinguished ; that hence 
sounds greatly diffeiiug in loudness and 
pitch, colors very remote from each other, 
and substances widely unlike in hardness or 
texture, should be tlie first supplied ; and 
that in each case the ])rogression nmst i)e by 
slow degrees to impressions more nearly 
allied. 

Passing ou to object-lessons, which mani- 
festly form a natural continuation of this pri- 
mary culture of the senses, it is to bo re- 
marked that the sy.item commonly pursued 
is wholly at variance with the method of na- 
ture, as alike exhibited in infancy, iii adult 
life, and in the course of civilization. " The 
child," says M. Marcel, "must be shown 
how all the parts of an object are connected, 
etc. ;" and the various manuals of these ob- 
ject-lessons severally conurin lists of the 
facts which the child is to be told respecting 
each of too things put before it. Now it 
needs but a glance at the daily life of 
the infant t> see that all the knowledge of 
things whii.'h is gained before the acquire- 
ment of speech is self gained — lh:,t theciuali- 
ties of hardness and weight associated with 
certain visual appearances, the possession of 
particular forms and colois by particular per- 
sons, tiie production of special sounds by an- 
imals of special aspects, are phenomena 
which it observes for itself. In manhood 
too, when there are no longer teachers at 
hand, the observations and iufereuce.J lo- 
quired for daily guidance must b'3 made un- 
helped ; and success in life depends upon tho 
accuracy and completeness witii wJiicli they 
are made. Is it pioitable, then, that whilo 
the process displ.iyed in the evolution of hu- 
manity at large is repeated alike by the in- 
fant and the man, a reverse luocess must be 
followed during the period between infancy 
and manhood V and that, too, even in so sim- 
ple a thing as learning the properties of ob- 
jects ? Is it n jt ol)vious, on the contrary, 
that one method must be pursued through- 
out ? And is not nature perpetually thrust- 
ing this method upon us, if we had but the 
wit to see it and t!ro humility to adopt it ? 
What can be more miiuifest tlian the desire 
of children cor intellectual sj^mpalhy ? Mark 
how the infant sitting on your knee thiusts 
into j^our face the toy it holds, that you too 
may look at it. See when it makes a creak 
with its wet finger on the table, how it turns 
aud looks at you ; does it again, and again 
looks at you ; thussayiugas clearl^yas it can, 
"Hear this new sjimd." Watch how the 
elder childniu come into the room exclaim- 
ing, "Mamma, see what a curious thing," 
" Mamma, look at this," " Mamma, look at 
that ;" and would continue tho habit, did 
not the silly mamma tell them not to tease 
her. Observe how, when out with the 
nurse-maid, each little one runs up to her 
with the new flower it has gathered, to show 
her how pretty it; is, and to get her also ta 



284 



EDUCATION: INTELLECTUAL, XOUAL, AND PHYSICAL. 



say it is nrelty. Listen to the eager volu- 
bility Willi wliich every urchin describes iiny 
novelty he has b^eti to see, if only lie can 
find some one who will attend with auy in- 
terest. Diit'S not tlie iudur.tian lie on the 
surface V Is it not clear that we must con- 
form our coui'se to these intellectual instincts 
— tliat we rau^t just systematize the natural 
process— lliat vv« must listen to all the chil.l 
has to tell us about each object, must induce 
it to say everything it can Ihink of about 
such object, must occasionally draw its at- 
tention to facts it has not yet observed, with 
the view of leading it to notice them itself 
•whenever they recur, and nuistgo on by and 
by to in iicate or supply new series of things 
for a lil<e exhaustive examination? Seethe 
way in whicli, on this method, the intelli- 
gent mother conducts her lessons. Step by 
step she familiarizes her little boy with the 
names of the simpler atliibutes, hardness, 
softness, color, taste, size, etc., in doing 
which she linds him eagetly help by bringing 
tins lo show her that it is red, and the other 
to make her feel that it is hard, as fast as 
slie gives Jiim words for tlieso propeUies. 
Each addilioual properly, as sise draws his 
hUention to it in some frcsh thing which he 
b.ings her, aim takes care to mention in 
connecllvu v/iih those ho already knows ; so 
that by the natural tendency to imitate he 
may get into the habit of repeating them 
one Ki'ter another. Gradually, as there occur 
cases iu which he omits to name one or mors 
of the ])iopeities he has become acquainted 
witli, she introduces i.lie [jiacticc of asking 
him whether there is not something more 
that he can tell her about tlie thing he has 
got. Prr.bably ho does not uuvlerstand. 
After letting "him puzzle awhile she tells 
Inm. perhaps hiughing at him a litlie foi 
his failure. A few recurrences of th's and 
lie pcrcfcivcs w!i:it is to be done. When next 
slio says she knows something moic about 
the o'lject than he has told lier, his pride is. 
roused ; ho looks at it iuteuliy ; he thinks. 
over all that he has heard ; and the problem 
being easy, presently finds it out. He is full 
of glee at his success, and she sympathizes 
with him. In common with eveiy child, he 
deligbt.s in the discovery of his powers. He 
wishes for more victories, and goes in quest 
of more things about which to led her. As 
his facaUies unfold she adds quality aftei 
quality to his list, progressing from hard- 
ness and soilness to roughness and smooth- 
ness, frcmcolorto polish, fiom simple bodies 
to composite onrs — thus con:-.IaulIy compli 
eating tiio problem as he gains compLtence, 
constantly taxing his f.ltenli.ai and memory 
to a gualer extent, constantly maiulaining 
his interest by supplying him wilh new im- 
pressions s:;<di as his mind can assimilate, 
and constantly gratifying him by conquesla 
over such small dilTiculties as he can iiuiiter. 
In doing this she is manifestly 1,'ut following 
out that spouUmeous process that was g^ing 
on during a still earlier period — simply aid- 
ing si'lf-cvolution ; and ia aiding it i:i the 
mode suggested by the boy's iustmctivc be- 



havior to her. Manifestly, too, the course 
she is pursnii.g is the one best calculated to 
estabii.sh a liahit of cxhausiive^observation, 
whi( h is the professed aim of thete lessons. 
To !'r/ii a chiid this and to iJiow it the other, 
is not to teach it how to observe, but to 
make it a mere recipient of another's obser- 
vations : a proceeding which weakens rather 
than stienglhens its powers of self-instruc- 
tion — which depiivcs it of the pkasuies re- 
sulting fiom successful activity — which pre- 
sents this all-alti active knowledge under the 
aspect of formal tuition — and which thus 
gene. .lies that indifference and even disgust 
with which these object lessons are not un- 
frequently regarded. On the (jtlier liand, to 
pursue the course above described is simply 
to guide the intellect to its aiiprojiriate tood ; 
to join with the intellectual apptlites tluir 
natural adjuncts — amour propix and the de- 
sire for sympathy; to induce by the union 
of all these an intensity cf attention wldch 
insures perceptions alike vivid and cuiii- 
plete ; and to habituate the mind Irom the 
beginning to that practice of self-help which 
it must ultimately follow. 
^ Object-lessons should not only be carried 
on after quite a different fashion from that 
communly pursued, but slKaild be extended 
to a range of things far wider, and Cuuliuue 
to a period far later, than now. They 
should not be limited to the contents of the 
house, but should include thcise cf the ficlda 
and the hedges, the quair}- and the f^cashiire. 
They should not cease wilh eaiiy childhood, 
but should be so kept u\» during ycuili as in- 
sensit)!}' to merge into the investigations of 
the naturalist and the man of science. Here 
again we h.tve but lO follow uiituie's l«ad- 
ings. Wlierc can be seen an intenser delight 
than that of children picking up new dowers 
and watching new insects, or lioarding peb- 
bles and shells? And who is there but per- 
ceives that by sympatliizing \\ilh them they 
may be led on to any extent of imiuiiy into 
t!ie qualities and structures of these things? 
Eveiy botanist who has had children with 
him in the woods and the lanes mu.-t have 
noticed how cageily lliey joined in his pur- 
suits, how keenly ihey teaichid out plants 
for him, how iiileully they watclitd while 
lie examined them, h jw they oveiv.'lielmed 
him wit!) questions. The consistent follower 
of Bac(in, the "servant ami inlerpieter of 
nature," will see that we ought modestly to 
adopt llic cour.se of culture thus indicated. 
Having gained due familiarity with the sim- 
j)ler propeities of inorganic obJL'Cls, the child 
shoul.l I)y the same piocess be led tni to a 
like exhaustive txaminatiou of the things it 
picks rip in ibs daily walks, the less com- 
plex facts they present being alone noticed 
at first: in plants, the c; lor, number, and 
forms of the petal.'! and shapes of the stalks 
andk-aves; in in.s;cts, the numbers of the 
wings, legs, anil antcnn;c, and their colors. 
A.s iheso bvcomc fully .'qiprtciated and in- 
variably obseived, furth'jr facts may be suc- 
cessivily introduced: in the one case, the 
numbeis of stamens and pisliis, the forms 



EDUCATION: INTELLECTUAL, MORxVL, AND PHYSICAL. 



2So 



of the flowers, v.Iiclher radial or bilateral in 
symmetry, Ihe anaiigement and character of 
the leaves, ■whether ojipOfite or alternate, 
staikrd or SGisile, smooth or hairj', serrated, 
teethed, or crcnutc ; in the other, the di- 
visions of the b.;dy, the segments of the ab- 
domen, the markings of the wings, l!ie num- 
ber cf joints in tholeg's, and the forms of Ihe 
smaller organs — the system pursued tlirongh- 
out being; Tliat of making it the child's am- 
bition tJ say respt'Cting everything it finds 
all that can be said. Then waeu a tit age 
has been rtache;], tlio means of preserving 
these plants, v,-!iirh have become so interctt- 
ing in virtue of the kuowitdge obtained of 
them, may as a g: cat favor be supplied ; and 
eventually, as a still greater favor, m:;y also 
be supplied the apparatus needful for ktep- 
ino: the lai vaj of our common butter Hies and 
moths through their transfornuuions — a 
practice which, as we can personally testify, 
yields the highest; gratification ; is continued 
■with ardor for years ; when j;ined with the 
formation of an entomological collection 
adds immense interest to Saturday afternooa 
rambles, and forms an admirable introduc- 
tion to the study cf phj'siology. 

V/e are quite prepared lo hear from many 
that all this is throwing away time and en- 
ergy, anel that chih'iri.n Mould be miieh bet- 
ter occupieel in writing their copies or h'aru- 
ing their iience-iabh s, and so filling them- 
selves for llie business cf life. "We re'gret 
that such crude ideas cf v. hat constitutes ed- 
ucation and su'di a narrow conception of 
utility should still bo generally prevalent. 
Saying ncihiug on the ueefl for a systcmalic 
cuilure of the perceptiims and the value of 
the practices above iiu ulcaled as subset ving 
that need, we are pn [)areil to defend them 
even on the score of the knowledge giiined. 
If men are lo be rneie cits, mere poreis over 
k'dgeis, with no ideas be^'ond Iheir tiades — 
if it is well that Ihe-y sin ukl be as the cock- 
ney whose conception eif rural j)leasures ex- 
lends no farther than sitting in a tea-garden 
smoking pipes and drinking porter : or as 
the sepilie who thinks of woods as places for 
Ehooling in, of uncultivated plants as noth- 
ing but wei'ds, anel who classities animals 
into game, vermin, anel stock — then indeed 
it is needless for men to learn anything thai 
does not directly lielpto replenish ihe till and 
fill the laider. But if there is a more worthy 
aim for us than to be drudges — it there are 
other uses in the things around us than theii 
power to biing mcney — if there are higher 
faculties to he cxerci.sed than acepusitive and 
Bcnsual ones — if the pleasures which poetry 
and art and science and philosophy can 
bring are of any moment— then is it desirable 
that the inslinciive inclination wdiicii every 
child shows to observe natural beauties and 
investigate natural phenomena should be en- 
couraged. But this gioss utilitarianism, 
which is content to c;)me into the world and 
quit it again without knowing what kind of 
a world it is oi v»-hat it contains, may be met 
on its own gr.iuiid. It wdl by and bv be 
found that a knowledge of the laws of life is 



more important than any other knowledge 
whatever — that the laws of life include not 
only all bodily and meutid pioce^sses. but by 
implication all tlie trausactiuus of the housp 
and the street, all commerce, all poluics, all 
morals — and that therefore, without a due ae- 
quiiiatance with them, r.eillier personal mjr 
social conduct can b3 lightly leguLUed. It 
will eventually be seen, loo, that the lavvs of 
life are essentially the same throughout the 
whole organic creation ; au'l fui ther, that 
the}' cannot be properly understood in their 
complex manifestations until they have been 
studied in their simpler (nies. Anel wliea 
this is seen, it will be also seen thai in aiding 
the cldld to acquire the out-of-door informa- 
tion for which it shows so great aa avidity, 
and in encouiaging the acquisition of suci.. 
information throughout youth, we are simply 
inducing it to stoie up tlie raw material tor 
future organization — the facts that will oni) 
day bring home to it with due force those 
great generalizations of science by which ac- 
tions may be rightly gui led. 

Tiie spreading tecoguiiion of drawing as an 
element of edue;ation is one among mauv 
signs of the more rational views on menial 
culture now beginning to prevail. Ouco 
more it may be remarked that teachers are at 
length adopting the course which nature has 
for ages been pressing upon their n dice. 
The spv>nlaneous eaorts niade by children to 
represent the men, houses, trees, and ani- 
mals around them — on a slate if they can get 
nothing better, or with lead-pjucil oa paper, 
if they can b;'g them — are fam liar lo all. 
To be shown liirougli a p:clure-book is one 
of their hiirhest gralifieations ; and as usual, 
their strong imiuuivc tenJ-^ncy presently 
generates in them the ambition :o mili.- p:j 
tures themselves also. This attempt to 
depict the striking things Ihey see is a 
further in-tinctive exeici^e of the perce^p. 
tions — a mean, whereby still greater accu- 
racy and completeness of observation is 
induced. And alike by seeking to interest 
us in their discoveries of the sensible p'o,)- 
erties of things, and by their enieavor-s to 
draw, they solicit from us just ihai kind of 
culture which they most nee 1. 

Had teachers boea guided bj'' nature's 
hints not only in tiie niiknig of drawing :i 
part of education, but in the choice of their 
modes of teacliing it, Ihe}^ would have done 
still better than they hii>re done. What is it 
that liie child first tries to represent ? Tiung-i 
that are large, things that are attractive in 
color, things louu I whicii its pleasural)le jus- 
soeiations most cluster — bumm beings froiu 
whom it has received so many emotions, 
cows and dogs which interest by the many 
phenomena tliey present, iiousjs that are 
hourly visible and strike by Iheir size and 
contrast of parts. And which of all the pro- 
cesses of re;)resentatioiigi7es .inost delight V 
Coloring. Paper and pencil are good in de- 
fault of something belter, but a box of 
paints and a brush — these are the treasures. 
The drawing of outlines iram.rhately be- 
comes secouJj.ry to coloring — is gone 



?«6 



EDUCATION: INTELLECTUAL, MORAL, AND PHYSICAL. 



througTi mainly with a view to tlie coloring ; 
and if leave cau be got to color a boolc of 
prints, how great is the favor I Now, ridic- 
ulous as such a ;)ositioa will seem to drawing- 
niaslurs, who postpone coloring iuid who 
teach form by a dreary discipline of copying 
lines, we believe that the course of culture 
thuj indicated is the riglit one. That piior- 
ity of color to form, which, as already pointed 
out, has a psjxhological basis, and in vu'- 
tue of which psychological basis arises this 
strong preference in the child, should be rec- 
ognized fi'ora the very beginning ; and from 
tliG very beginning also the things imitated 
should be real. That grciiter delight in color 
vvhicli is not only conspicuous in cliiidren but 
persists in most persons throughout life, 
should be continuously employed as the nat- 
ural stimulus to the mastery of the compara- 
tively diffieiiit and unattractive form — should 
be the prospective lev.'ard for the' achieve- 
ment of form. And these instinctive at- 
tempts to represent interesting actualities 
should be all along encouraged, in the con- 
viction that as, by a widening experience, 
smaller and more practicable objtcts become 
interesting, the}'^ too will be attempted, and 
that so a gradual approximation will be made 
toward imitations having some resemblance 
Jo the realities. No matter how grotesque 
the shapes produced, no matter h!)W dauljed 
and glaring the colors. The question is not 
whether the child is producing good draw- 
ings : the question is, whether it is develop- 
ing its faculties. It has first to gain some 
command over its tingeis, some crude no- 
tions of likeness ; and this practice is better 
than any other for these ends, seeing that it 
is the spontaneous and the interesting one. 
During these early years, be it remembered, 
no formal drawing-lessons are possible ; 
shall we therefore repress, or neglect to aid, 
these efforts at self-culture ? or shall we en- 
courage and guide them as normal exercises 
01 tne perceptions ana lue yiowers c2 z^r^nip- 
ulatiou ? If by the supply of cheap woodcuts 
to be colored, and simple contour-maps to 
have their boundary lines tinted, we cannot 
only pleasurably draw out the faculty of 
color, but can incidentally produce some 
famdiarity with the oullines of things and 
countries, and some ability tom'ive the biush 
steadily an'i 'J hy the supply of temptingly- 
painted objects we can keep up the instinc- 
tive practice of making represenianouo, hcv,'- 
ever rough, it must happen that by the time 
drawing is commonly commenced there will 
exist a facility that would else have been ab- 
sent. Time will have been gained, and 
trouble both to teacher and pupil saved. 

From all that has been said, it may be 
readily inferred that we wholly disapprove 
of the practice of drawing from copies, and 
still more so of that formafdiscipline in mak- 
ing straight lines and curved lines and com- 
pound lines, with which it is the fashion of 
some teachers to begin. We regret to find 
that the Society of Arts has recently, in its 
series of manuals on " Rudimentary Art- 
Iiistiuctiou," g;ivea its countenance to an ele- 



mentary drawing-book which is the raost 
vicious in principle that we have seen. We 
refer to the " Outline from Outline, or from 
the Flat," by John Bell, sculptor. As ex- 
pressed in the piefatory note, this publication 
proposes " to place before the student a sim- 
ple yet logical mode of instruction ;" and 
to this tnd sets out with a number of defi- 
nitions thus : 

"A simplfi line in drawing is a tliin mark drawn 
from one jioiiit to another. 

'• Lines may be divided, as to ttieir nature in draw- 
ing, inio two cla5i>cs: 

" 1. Str.'ifiht, wKid) areiiiar^-:s ttiatgo the shoriest 
road i)etween two poinis. as A B. 

'• 2. Or Urn-red, which are m irlcs wliicli do not go 
the Bliortest roud.betweeu two points, as C D." 

And so the introduction progresses to hori- 
zonttd lines, iierpendicular lines, oblique 
lines, angles of the several kinds, and the 
various figures which lines and angles make 
up. The work is, in short, a grammar of 
form, with exercises. And thus the system 
of commencing with a dry analysis of ele- 
ments, which, in tiie teaching of language, 
has been exploded, is to be reinstiluttd in 
the teaching of drawing. The abstract is to 
be preliminary to the concrete. Scientific 
conceptions are to precede empirical experi- 
ences. That this is an inversion of the nor- 
mal order we need scarcely repeat. It has 
been well said concerning the custom of pre- 
facing the art of speaking any ton'vue by a 
drilling in the pmrlsof spf^ech nnd their func- 
tions, that it is about as reasonable as prefac- 
ing the art of walking by a course of lessons 
on the bones, muscles, and nerves of the 
legs ; and much the same thi jg may be said 
of the proposal tu preface ilie aii ol represent- 
ing objects by a nomenclature and definitions 
of the lines which they yield on analysis. 
These technicalities are alike repulsive and 
needless. They render the study distasteful 
at the very outset ; and all with the view of 
teaching that which, in the course of prac- 
tice, will be learned unconsciously. Just as 
the child incidentally gatheis the meanings 
of ordinary words from the conversations 
going on around it, without the help of dic- 
tionaries, so, from the remnrks on objects, 
pictures, and its own drawings, will it pres- 
ently' acquiie, not only without effort, but 
even pleasurably, those same scientific terms 
which, if presented at first, are a my,slery and 
a weariness. 

If any dtpcndence is to be placed upon the 
geneial |)iinciples of cducalKui tliat have 
l)een laid dcjwn, the process of learning to 
draw should be thnnighuul CQntiuuou.s with 
those efforts of early cliiklhood described 
above as so worthy of encouragetTi^nt. By 
the time that the voluntary lu'aetice thus in- 
itiated has given some steadiness of hand 
and some tolerable ideas of picpoition, there 
will have arisen a vague noliou of body as 
presenting its three dmiensions in per-spcc 
tive. And wnen, r.ller sur;drv al)orlive, 
Chinese-like attempts to render tiiis appear- 
ance on paper, there has gicwn up a [irctty 
clear perception of the thing to be acliieved 



EDUCATION: INTELLECTUAL. MORAL, AND PHYSICAL. 



28'; 



and a desire to achieve it, a first lesson in 
empiiical perspective may be given Viy means 
of the apparatus oceasioually used in ex- 
plaining perspective as a enience. This^ 
sounds formidable ; bat the experiment is 
boili comprehensive and interestmg to any 
liny or gill of ordinary intelligence. A plate 
of glass so framed as to stand vertically on 
the table, being placed before the pupil, and 
a book, or like simple object laid cm the 
other side of it, he is reque.-ted, -w hile keep- 
ing tiie eye in one posilica, to make ink dots 
upon the glass, so that they may coincide 
■with or hide th3 corneis (if this olijfct. He 
is then told lo join Ihese dots by lines ; on 
doing which he perceives that the lines he 
makes hide or coincide witii the outlines of 
the object. And then, on lieing atJced to put 
a sheet of paper on the other side of the 
glass, he discovers that the lines he has thus 
drawn represent the object as he saw it. 
Tiiey not only look iiki; it, but he perceivea 
tliat they muhl be like it, because he made 
them agree with its (/Utiincs ; and by remov- 
ing the paper he can repeutedly convince 
himself that they do a^ree with its outlines. 
The fact is new ana striking, and serves 
him as an experimental demonstration, that 
lines of certain lengths, placed in certain di- 
rections on a plane, can represent lines of 
other lengths, and having other directions in 
space. Subsequently, by gradually chang- 
ing the position of the object, he may be led 
to observe how some lines shorten and disap- 
pejir, while others come into sight and 
lengthen. Theconvergence of parallel lines, 
and, indeed, uU the leading facts of perspec- 
tive may from time to time be similarly il- 
lustrated to him. If he has been duly accus- 
tomed to self-help, he will gladly, when it ia 
suggested, make tiie attempt lo draw one of 
these outlines upon pafier by the eye only ; 
and it may soon be made un exciting aim to 
produce, unassiste*!. a repiesentation, as like 
as he can to one subsi quenlly sketched on 
tlic glass. Thus, without the unintelligent, 
mechanical piaclice of copying other draw- 
ings, but by a method at once simple and at- 
tractive — ndijiial, yet not ai-slrai t, a familiar- 
ity with the linear appearances of things, 
and a faculty' of reudeiinglliLm, maybe step 
by step acquired. To wiiich advantages add 
these : that even thus early the pupil learas, 
almost unconsciously, the liue theory (,f a 
picture — namely, that it is a delincaliou of 
objects as they np|)oar when projected on a 
plane placed between tlirman'l the eye ; and 
that when he reaches a tit age for commenc- 
ing scientific perspective he is already thor- 
oughly acquainted with the facts which form 
its logical basis. 

As exhibiting a rational mode of commu- 
nicating primavy ccnce[jtion3 in getmietry, 
we cannot do belter than quote the follow- 
ing passage from Mr. Wyse : 

" A cliild has been in tl;e habit of Tt=ing cnbes for 
arithmelic ; kt Uiiu n.-e ilicm iilso for tiu elrinontsuf 
geometry. 1 would bouiii wiiJi boliiis, the rcvet'io of 
the usual plan. It auves uil ilie difficulty of ul>i<urd 
definitioaH, aui bad expL.UHiiomt on poiiits, huu^. 



and 8urfacp«<, whif.h are nothing but abstractions. 
... A cube presents many of the principal elo- 
ments ofgs-ometiy ; it at once ex!iit)its points, ftraigh; 
liups, parallel lines, anjilfs, paiallelogiaius, etc., vie, 
rtiese cuDea are divi-ible into v;irioiis parts. Ttie pu- 
pil han already been familiarizt-d Mith such divi.-ionrt 
in nuTieraiiou, and he uiw proceeds t) a comaari^ou 
©f thfir several p^irts, and of Ih'- relation of ihrse 
pans to eiioli (itiier. . . Krom tlieiic* he ad- 

vances to globes, wtiich furnish him with t-lemi-ntary 
notions of the circle, of cu;-vc.s generally, etc., etc. 

" I'Hiing t derably faiDiliar with s.ilids, he m ly now 
snbB*.iiii(e planee. The transition may he ni/ido ver" 
easy. Let the cube, for instance, be cut into thin dt- 
visi'ms, and placed on piper; he w'M t.ien see as 
many piaue rectangl"sas he has divisions ; so wiih all 
the others Glolien may be tr>!!iled in the same man- 
ner ; he will ihn-i see liow gurfiices really are gener- 
ated, and be euubkd lo a'jstiact theiu with facility iu 
every solid. 

" He has tb.ns soqnired the nlphnbet and reading of 
geometry. He now proi eeds to write it. 

" The simplest operation, and therefore the first, ia 
merely to place these planes on a i)ieee of paper, and 
pass the pencil round them. When tliis ho.9 been fre- 
quently done, the plane may be put at a liitle dis- 
tance, and the child required lo copy it, and so on." 

A stock of geometrical conceptions having 
been obtained, in some such maimer as this 
recommended by Mr. Wyse, a further step 
may, in course of time, be taken, by intro- 
ducing the practice of testing the correctness 
of all figures drawn by the eye ; thus alike 
exciting an ambition to mtike them exact, 
and continually illustrating the difficulty of 
fulfilling that ambition. There can be little 
doubt that geometry had its origin (as, in- 
deed, the word implies) in the methods dis- 
covered by artisims and others, of making 
accurate measurement for the foundations of 
buildings, areas of inclosures, and the like ; 
and that its truths came to be treasured up 
merely with a view to their immediate util- 
ity. They should be introduced to the pupil 
under analog.nis relationships. In the cut- 
ting out of pieces for his card-houses, in tho 
drawing of ornamental diagrams for color- 
ing, and in those van )us inslruclive occupa- 
tions which an inventive teacher will le:iil 
him into, ln^ may be for a length of time ad- 
vantageously left, like the primitive builder, 
to tenlative processes, and will so g:iin an 
abundant experience of the difficulty of 
achieving his aims by the unaided sensing. 
When, having meanwhile undergone a val- 
uable di-scipline of the perceptions, he has 
reached a fit age for using a pair of com- 
passes, he will, while duly tippreciating theso 
as enabling him to verify his ocular gaesses, 
be si ill hiudeied by the dilllcallies of the ap- 
proximative method. In this slag3 he mtiy 
be left for a further period : partly as being 
yet too young for anything higher, partly 
because it is desirable that he should bo 
made to feel still more strongly the want of 
systematic contrivances. If the rt^quisitioa 
of knov/ledge is to be made continuously in- 
teresting, and if, in the early civili/.al ion of 
the child, as in the early civ iliz^iliju of the 
race, science be<--oines attractive cnly a.s min- 
istering to art, it is manifest that tlie proper 
preliminary to geometry is a long practiee in 
those constructive processes which geometry 
will facilitate. Ooserve tliat here, too, na- 
ture points the way. Almost invariably. 



288 



EDUCATION: INTELLECTUAL, MORAL, AND PHYSICAL. 



children show a strong propensity to cut out 
things m paper, to m;u:3, to build — a propen- 
sity which, if duly encouruged and directed, 
will not only prepare the way for scientific 
conceptions, but will develop those powers 
of manipulation in which most people are so 
deficient. 

When the observing and inventive facul- 
ties have attained the requisite power, the 
pupil may be introduced to empirical geom- 
etry ; that is, geometry dealing svithmelhod- 
iral snlutious, but not with the demonsira- 
tioMS of them. Like all other transitious in 
education, this should be made not formally 
but incidentally, and the relationship to con- 
.siiuclive art should still be maintained. To 
nvikc a tetrahedron in card-board like one 
jk'iven to him is a problem which will alike 
idlciest th'j pupil and yerve aa a convenient 
stiirtitig-;)oint. In attempting this, he finds 
it needful to diaw four equilateral triangles 
arranged in special jjositions. Being unable 
in the absence of an exact method to do this 
atciiraiely, lie discovers, on putting the tri- 
angles in;o their respeclive positions, that he 
cannot make their sides tit, and that their 
Jingles do nut properly meet at the apex. He 
ir.ay now be shown how. by describing a 
couple of circles, each of the.«e triangles inny 
be drawn wiih perfect correctness and with- 
out gue.'-sing , and after his failure he will 
duly value the information. Having thus 
helped him to the solution of his first prob- 
lem, with tlie view of ill istrating the nature 
<»f geometrical methods, he is in future to be 
left altogether to his own ingenuity in solv- 
ing the questions put to him. To bisect a 
line, to eiect a perpendicular, to describe a 
square, to bisect an angle, to draw a line par- 
allel to a given line, to describe a hexagon, 
are problems which a little patience will en- 
able him to find out. And from these he 
may be led on step by step to questions of a 
more complex kind, all of which, under 
,iudicious management, he will puzzle 
through unhelped. Doubtless many of those 
brought up under the old regime will look 
upon this assertion sceptically. We speak 
from facts, however, and those neither fev^" 
nor special. We luvve seen a class of boys 
become so interested in making out colulious 
to these problems as to Uok forward to their 
geometry-j.'sson asafhief event of the week. 
Within i)ie last mouth we have been told of 
one gills' school in wliieli seme of Iheyoung 
ladies voluntarily occupy themselves wiih 
;geometrical questions out of school-hours ; 
.and of another in which they not only do 
;this, but in which one of them is begging for 
problems to find out during the holidays — 
■both which facts we state on the authorily 
of the teacher. There could indeed be no 
«trongcr proofs than arc thus afi'orded of tli^ 
■practicability and the immense advantage of 
self-development. A branch cf knowledge 
which as commonly taught is diy and even 
repulsive, may, ])y following the method of 
nature, be made extremely inlctcsting and 
X>rofoundly beneficial. We say profoundly 
beneficial, because the cITlcI.i aio cot con- 



fined to the gaining of geometrical facts, but 
often revolutionize the whole state of mind. 
It has repeatedly occurred that those who 
have been stupelied by the ordinary school- 
drill — by its abstract formulas, by its weari- 
some tasks, by its cramming — have suddenly 
had their intellects roused, by thus ceasing 
to make them passive recipients, and induc- 
ing tlnm to become active discoverers. The 
discouragement brought about by l)ad teach- 
ing Jiaving been diminished by a little sym- 
pathy, and suxficient perseverance induced 
to achieve a first puccess, there arises a revul- 
sion of feeling affecting the whole nature. 
They no longer find themselves incompe- 
tent ; they too can do something. And 
gradually, as success follows success, the in- 
cubus of despair disappears, and they attack 
the difliculties of their other studies with u 
courage that insures conquest. 

This empirical geometry which presents an 
endless series cf problems, and should be 
contimied along with other stui!ies for years, 
may throughout be advantageously accom- 
panied by tiiose coneiete applications of its 
principles which serve as its preliminary. 
After the cube, the octahedron, and the va- 
rious forms of pyramid and prism have been 
mastered, may come the more complex icg- 
ular bodies — the ilodecaheiiron, and the ico- 
sahedron — to construct which out of single 
pieces of card-board requires considerably in- 
genuity. From these the transition may 
naturally be mtidc to such modified forms of 
the regular bodies as are met with in crystals 
— the truncated cube, the cube with its di- 
hedral as well as its solid angles truncated, 
the octahedron, and the various prisms as 
similarly modified ; in imitating which nu- 
merous forms assumed by dilYerent metala 
and salts, au acquaintance with the leading 
facts of mmeraiogy will be incidentally 
gained. After long continuance in exercises 
of this kind, rational geometiy, as may be 
supposed, presents no obstacles. Constantly 
habituatc*d to contemplate relationships of 
foim and quantity, and vaguely pciceiving 
from time t.) time Ihc n(cessilyof certain re- 
sults as reached by certain means, the pupil 
comes to legaid tl;e dcmt nslratious of 
Euclid as the missing suj-plenunls to hi? 
familiar pr(!bltms. His well-disciplined fac- 
ulties enable him easily to mailer its sue- 
pessive pioposiiions, and to appitciate their 
value, and he has the occasional giatifica- 
ticu cf finding some of his own uit Ihods 
pioved to be tiue. Thus he enjoys what is 
to the unprepared a dreary task. It only re- 
mains to acid that his mind will presently 
arrive at a fit condition for that most valu- 
able of all exercises for the itfiective facul- 
ties — the making of original deniunsttations. 
fciuch thcoicms as those appeudeti lo the suc- 
cossi\e books of the Messrs. Chambers' 
Euclid v'ill soon become practical>le to 
him ; and in proving iLem the procesK of 
S( If-devtlopmenl will be rot inlelleeluai only, 
but moral. 

To continue much farther these .cugges- 
licns wculd be to write a detailed treatise OB 



!l 



EDUCATION: INTELLECTUAL, MORAL, AND PHYSICAL. 



2ad 



education, ■which we do not purpose. The 

foiegoiDg oulliuts of plans for exercising the 
perctptioiis in caily cliildhood for coiuluct- 
ing object-lessons for teaching drawini;' and 
geometry, must be cotsideitd as ronghly- 
eketched illustiations of the melhed diitnled 
by the general principles previfai&ly speci- 
fied. We believe ihat. on examination they 
Tvill be found not only to pi ogress ft cm the 
F.mple to the complex, from Uie concrete to 
Ihe abstract, from the empirical to the 
lational, but to satisfy the furtlur require- 
nunts that education sliail be ii leixlition of 
civilization in little, that itsliall be as much as 
j>ossible a pioiess of seif-ev(;iuiion, and that 
il shall be pleasurable. That there should 
be one type of method capable of satisfying 
all these conditions tends alike to verify the 
conditions and to prove that type of method 
the light (inc. And when we add that this 
method is the logicid outcome of the tendency 
characterizing all mcdein systems of in- 
struction — that it is but an adoption in full of 
the nietliod of natiue whiv'h they adept par- 
ti;diy — that it displays this complete adoption 
(f the method cf nature, not only by con- 
foiming to the above principles, but by fol- 
lowing the suggistions which the unfolding 
mind itself gives, facilitatir;g its spontaneous 
ftclivities, and so aiding Ihe developments 
which nature is busy with — v.hen we add 
'his. there seems abundant reason to con 
■'ludc that the mode of proceduic above ex- 
emplified closely approximates to the liue 
one. 

A few paragraphs must be appended in 
further inculcati(,n of the two general prin- 
ciples, alike the most important and the least 
attended to : we mean the prinei[)le that 
ll-.roughout youth, as in early childhood and 
in maturil}', the prccests shall be one of self- 
instruction ; and the obverse piinciple, that 
the mental action induced by this plO(es■^ 
shall be throughout inliiusically grateful. 11 
progression from simple to complex, and fiom 
concrete to abstract, be consideied the (s«en- 
tial requirements as dictated by abstract psy- 
chology, tiien do these requirements that 
knowledge shall be self-mastered, and pleas 
uiidily masiered, become the tests by which 
we may judge whether the dictates of ab- 
stract psyei»ology are being fullilled. If the 
first cmi)i)dy the landing generalizations of 
the science of mental grov^th, the last are the 
chief canons of the art of fostering mental 
growth. For manifestly if the steps in our 
cumculum are so arranged that they can be 
successively ascended by the pupil himself 
with little or no help, they must correspond 
■with the stages of evolution in his faculties ; 
and manifestly if the successive achieve- 
ments of these steps are intrinsically grati- 
.fying to him. it follows that they require no 
more than a normal exercise of his powers. 

But the making education u process of self- 
evoluliou has other advantages than this of 
keeping our lessons in the right order. In 
the first place it guarantees a vividness and 
permanency of impression which the usual 
methods can never produce. Any piece of 



knowledge which the pupil has himself ac- 
quired, any problem which he has himself 
solved, becomes by virtue of the conquest 
much more thoroughly his than it could else 
be. The preliminary activity of mind whicb 
his success implies, the concentration of 
thought necessary to it, and the excitement 
consequent on his triumph, conspire to reg- 
ister all the facts in his memory in a way 
that no mere information heard from a teach- 
er or read in a school-book can be regis- 
tered. Even if he fails, the tension to which 
his faculties have been wound up insures hii* 
remembrance of the solution when given to 
him, better than half a dozen repetitiorin 
would Observe again, that this discipiioa 
necessitates a continuous organization of tliB 
knowledge he acfiuires. It is in the very 
nature of facts and infereujes, HssimilateA 
in this normal mauuer, that th'jy succes- 
sively become the premises of further con- 
clusions, the means of solving still further 
questions. The solution of yesterday's prob- 
lem helps the pupil in mustering to-day'.s. 
Thus the knowledge is turned into facull^'aa, 
soon as it is taken in, and fortlivvitli aids in 
the general function of thinking — does not 
lie merely written in the pages of an internal 
library, as when rote-learned. Jlaik further 
the importance of tha ni )ral culture wliicli 
this constant self-help inv^olves. Courage in 
attacking difficulties, patient concentralioQ 
of the attention, perseverance tii rough fai^ 
ures — these are characleristies which after- 
life specially requires ; and thest; are cliarao- 
teristics which this system of making th9 
mind work for its food specially produces. 
That it is thoroughly practicable to carry out 
instruction after this fashion we can our- 
selves testify, iiaving been in youth thus led 
to successively solve the comp.ira'dvcly com 
plex proi)lems of perspective. And that 
leading teachers have i)een gradually tending 
in this direction is indicated alike in the say- 
ingof Fellenberg, that " tlieiudiviilual, indo- 
])eudent activity of the pupil is of nuieh 
greater importance than tire ordinary hiny 
otliciousness of many whr) assume the oitice 
of educators;" in tlie opinion of Huaci 
Mann, that " unfortunately education 
among us at present consists too much in 
telling, not \atrainin/j ;" and in the remark 
of K. Marcel, that " what the learner di'i- 
covers by mental exertion is better known 
than what is told to him." 

Similarl}' with the correlative requirement, 
that the method of culture pursued shall ba 
one productive of an intrinsicafly happy ac- 
tivity — an activity not happy in virtue of ex- 
trinsic rewaids to be obtained, but in virtue 
of its own healthfulness. Conformity to 
this requirement not only guards us against 
thwarting the normal process of evolution, 
but incidentally secures positive benefits of 
importance. Unless we are to return to aa 
ascetic morality, the maintenance of youtli- 
ful happiness must be considered as in itself 
a worthy aim. Not to dwell upon this, how- 
ever, we go on to remark that a pleasurable 
state of feeling is far more favorable to Intel- 



too 



EDUCATION: INTELLECTUAL. MORAL, AND PHYSICAL. 



lectual action than one of indifference or dis- 
gust. Every one liuows thai things read, 
Heard, or seen with interest are better re- 
membered than those read, lienrd, or seen 
with apathy. In the one case the faculties 
appealed to are actively occupied with the 
subject predcnted ; in the other they are in- 
antively occupied with it, and the attention 
is continufiUy drawn away after nioie attrac- 
tive fhouiijbly. Hence the impressions arc 
respectively strong and weak. Moreover. 
tlie iutclicclual lisllessness wiiieh a pupil's 
lark of iuterest in any study involves is fur- 
ther complicated by his anxiety, by his fear 
of consequences, which disiracl his tittention, 
find inciease the dillieuJIy he finds in biiug- 
iug his faculties to bear upon these facts that 
are repugn lut to them. Ciraily, tiieret'ore, 
the efficiency of any inlelleclual a(tiou will, 
oilier things equal, be proportion;ite to the 
gralitication with wiiich it is perl'ormed. 

It should be considered aiso that impor- 
tant moral consequences depend upon the 
habitual pleasure or pain which daily lessons 
produce. No one cau conqiare the faces and 
manners of two boys— the one made happy 
by mastering interestmg subjects, and the 
oilier made miserable by disgust with his 
Btudies, by consequent failure, by cold looks, 
by threats, by punishment — without seeing 
that the disposition of the one is being bene- 
fited, and that of the other greatly injured. 
Whoever has marked the effect of intellec- 
tual success upon the mind, and the power of 
the mind over the body, will see that in tiie 
one case both temper and health are favora- 
bly affected, while in ihe other there i-* dan- 
ger of permanent nioroseucss, of permanent 
timidity, and even of permanent constitu- 
tional depression. To all which considera- 
tions we must add the further one, that the 
relationship between teachers and thtMr 
pupils is, other thing-i equal, rendered 
friendly and influential, or antagonistic and 
powerless, according as the s^'stem of culture 
produces happiness or misery. Human be- 
ings are at the mercy of their associated 
ideas. A daily minister of pain cannot fail 
to be regarded with a secret dislike, and if 
he causes no emotions but painl'ul ones, will 
inevitably be hated. Conversely, he who 
constantly aids children to their ends, hourly 
provides them with the satisfactions of con- 
quest, hourly eneourages them through their 
dilBculties and sympatliizes'iu their success- 
% cannot fail to be liked ; nay, if his be- 
/javior is consistent tliroughout, must be 
loved. And when we remember how eill- 
cient and benign is the cmtrol of a master 
who is felt to bo a friend, when compared 
with the control of one who is looked upon 
with aversion, or at best indifference, we may 
infer that the indirect advantages of conduct- 
ing education on tlij happiness principle do 
not fall far short of the ditect ones. To all 
who question the possibility of acting out the 
system here advocated, we reply as before, 
that not only does theory point to it, but ex- 
perience commends it. To the many ver- 
dicts of distinguished teachers who since 



Pestalozzi'a time have testified this, may be 
here added that of Professor Pijlans, who 
asserts that " where young people are taught 
as they ought to be, they are quite as liappy 
in school as vt play, seldom less delightecl, 
nay, often ni ).e, with the well-directed exer- 
cise of their nuntal energies, than with that 
of their mu-cular powers." 

As suggesting a tinal reason for makin* 
education a process of self-instruction, and 
by consequence a process of pleasurable in- 
struction, we may advert to the fact that in 
pro[)ortion as it is made so is theie a 'proba- 
bility that education will not cease when 
schooldays end. As long as the acquisition 
of knowledge is rendered habitually repug- 
nant, so long will there b(; a prevailing tin- 
dency to discontinue it when free from the 
coercion of parents and masters. And 
when the acqni'^^ition of knowledge has been 
rendered liabitually giatifying, then will 
there be as prevailing a tendency to continue, 
without superintendence, that same self-cul- 
ture previously cariied on under superinten- 
dence. These results are inevitable. While 
the laws of mental association remain true — 
while men dislike the things and places that 
suggest painful recollections, and delight ia 
those which call to mind bygone pleasuies — 
painful lessons will make kmiwiedge repul- 
sive, and pleasurable lessons will make i( 
attractive. The men to whom in b )yhood in- 
forniiition came in dreary tasks along with 
threats of punishment, and who were never 
led into habits of independent inquiry, aro 
unlikely to be students in after yeais ; while 
those to whom it came in the natural forms, 
at the proper times, and who remember its 
facts as not only interesting in themselves, 
but as the occasions of a long series of grati- 
fying successes, are likely to continue 
through life that self-instruction commenced 
in youth. 

CHAPTER in. 

MOKAL EDUCATION. 

Strangely enough, the most glaring de- 
fect in our programmes of education is en- 
tirely overlooked. While much is being 
done in the detailed improvement of our sys- 
tems in respect both of matter and manner, 
the most pressing desideratum has not yet 
been even recognized as a desideratum. To 
prepare the young for the duties of life ia 
tacitly admitted by all to be the end which 
parents and schoolmasters should have ia 
view; anfl happily the value of the things 
taught, and the goodness of the method fol- 
lowed in teaching them, are now ostensibly 
judged t)y their fitness to this end. The pro- 
priety of sut)slituting for an exclusively clas- 
sical training a training iu which the modern 
languages sliall have a share, is argued on this 
ground. The necessity of increasing the 
amount of science is urged for like reasons. 
I3ut though some care is taken to fit youth of 
both se.xes for sociel}' and citizenship, no 
caie whatever is taken to fit them for the etih 
moi-e impo'.tant po-sition they will ultimately 
have to fill— the position of patents. Wliito 



EDUCATION: INTELLECTUAL, MORAL, AND PHYSICAL. 



2G1 



ft is Been that for the purpose of gaining a 
ii\eIiliooti an elal-oiate prepanition is need- 
ed, it appears to be thouglit that for the 
bringing up of children no preparation 
wiialever is needed. Wliile many years are 
spent by a boy in gaining Ituowlcdge, of 
Vihich Ihe chief value is that it cousiitutes 
" the education uf a genllenian," and while 
many years are spent liy a girl in those dec- 
orative acqiiirunents wliich fit her for even 
ing parlies, not an hour is spent by eithei 
of thcin in preparation for that gravest of all 
responsibilities — ihe management of a fam- 
ilv. Is It that this responsibilily is but a re- 
niole contingency 1 On the contrary, it is 
certain to devolve on nine out of ten. Is it 
tliat ilie discharge of it is ca?y V Certainly 
not : of all functions which the adult has to 
fulfil this is the most difticuit. Is it that each 
may be trusted by self-instruction to fit him- 
self, or herself, for the office of parent ? No : 
not only is the need for such self-iusl ruction 
unrecognized, but, the complexity of the sub- 
ject renders it the one of all otheis in which 
tclf-iustruction is least likely to succeed. No 
rational plea can he put forward for leaving 
the art of education out of our carriculum. 
Whether as bearing upon the hap()iuess_of 
parents themselves, or whether as affecting 
the characters and lives of tlieir children and 
remote descendants, we must admit that a 
knowledge of the right methods of juvenilb 
culture, physical, intellectual, and moral, ia 
a knowledge second to none in importance. 
This topic should occupy the highest and last 
place in the course of instruction passed 
through by each man and woman. As phys- 
ical maturity is marked by the ability to 
produce offspring, so mental maturity is 
marked by the aliility to train those off- 
spring. The unbject irhich inrolves all other 
Kul/jcriK, Olid Ourtfore ihe inibject in which the 
education, of every one Khould. cnbninate, is 
ihe Theory and Practice- of Education. 

Ill ihe absence of this preparation, the 
management of children, and more especially 
the moral management, is lamentably bad. 
Parents either never think about ihe matter 
at all, or else their conclusions are crude and 
inconsistent. In most cases, and especially 
on the part of mothers, llie treatment 
adopted on every occasion is that which the 
impulse of the moment prompts : it springs 
not from any reasoued-out conviction as to 
what will most conduce to the child's wel- 
fare, but merely e.vpresscs the piissing paren- 
tal feelings, whether gojd or ill, and varies 
from hour to hour a^ these feelings vary. 
Or if these blind dictates of passion are sup- 
plemented by any definite doctrines and 
methods, they are those that have been 
hande<i down from the past, or those sug- 
gested by the remembrances of childhood, or 
those adopted from nurses and servants — 
methods devised nut by the enlightenment, 
but by the ignorance of the time. Com- 
menting ou the chaotic state of opinion and 
practice relative to family government, Rich- 
ter writes : 



" If tlie secret variances of a large cla<;8 of ordinary 
Tathirs were hrou>;lit to lisht, Miid laid dowu 3.» a plua 
of studies;, anil reading caD.il(>fj;uj.l lor a moral cducii- 
tioii, they would run somewliat afr.er this lashiujr. 
In Ihe Urst liour ' pure morality llm^•'t bo read to tlia 
»hild, either by inyselt or (he liuor;' in the secoiid, 
' lui.x^ed morality. Or that which may be applied to 
one's own advantai^e ;' in the third, ■ d > you not see 
that your futiier does so and so?' in the fourtli. 'you 
areli'ttlr. and tiiis is only tit for grown-up people;' 
in the tilth, ' the c'liief maiter is tliat you fiiouid i^uo- 
cee I in the world, and lecoine souieihaigiu tiio siata, ;' 
hi the six'h, ' not the temporary, but tlie eteriial, tls- 
termmes the worth of a man;' in the .-eventh, ' ther« 
fore rather sutler iiijii>-t3e. iind be kind • ' in ilie 
eif^hth, • but defend your.-elf bruveiyif anyone aitac' t 
you ;' in the ninth, ' do not make ;i noise, dear child .' 
Ill the tenth, 'a Iwy must nut sit so quiet ;' in tho 
eleventh, 'you must obey your parents better;' in 
the twelfth, ' ami educate yoin»ell ' tio, by the horih- 
ly char.ge of his princi,)let!, the father C')nceal8 ih.'ir 
unreinhlenes-' ana one ;-idedness. As for his wifti, 
she m neiiher like him, nor yer like tnar. iihtleciuia 
whocameon to Ihe staije with a bundle ol papers unci* 
each arm, and answered to the inquiry wliai he liai 
under his right arm, 'orders,' aid to what he had un- 
der his left arm, ' connter-ordorp.' But ihe mother 
might be much b-'ttor compured to a giant Briareiu*, 
who had a hundred arms, and a buiidie of papers ua- 
der each." 

This state of things is not to be readily 
changed. Generations must pass before any 
great ametioralioa of it can be expected. 
Like pjlitical constitutions, educational sys- 
tem-s are not made, but grow ; and withia 
brief periods growth is insensible. Slow, 
however, as must be any improvement, evea 
th<tt iinprovement implies the use of means ; 
and ammg the means is discu.ssion. 

We are not among those who believe in 
L)rd Pahnerstou'sdogint, that " all child.'-eQ 
are born good." On the whole, the opposltu 
dogma, untenable as it is, seems to us less 
wide of the truth. Nor do we agree with 
those who think that, by skilful discipline, 
ebildren may be made altogether what th^j/ 
sliould be. (Joulrariwise, we are satisfied 
ttiat though imperfections of nature may he 
diminished by wise management, they can- 
aot be removed by it. The notion that ;in 
ideal humanity might be forthwitii produc<;i 
by a perfect system of education is near akia 
t» that shadowed forth in the poems of Shel- 
ley, that would mankind give up tlieir old in- 
stitutions, prejudices, and errors, all the evih 
in the world would at once disa[)pear ; nei- 
ther notion being acceptable to such as have 
dispassionately studietl human affairs. 

Not that we are without sympathy with 
those who entertain these loo sanguine hopes. 
Enthusiasm, pushed even to fanalicisrn, is a 
i*8eful motive power — perhaps an indispen- 
sable one. It is clear tbtit the ardent politi- 
eian would never undergo the labors and 
mnke the sacrifices he does, did he not believe 
that the reform he figiils for is the one thing 
Heedful. Bui for his conviction that drunk- 
enness is the root of almost all social evila, 
the teetotaller would auilale far less cnerget- 
iofilly. In philauthropliy as in other things 
great advantage results from division of 
kbor ; and that there m-ay be division of la- 
bor, each class of philanthropists must be 
more or less subordinated to its functi<»u — 
must have an exaggerated faith in its work, 
llence, of those who regard education, intel- 



303 



EDUCATION: INTELLECTUAL, MORAL, AND PHYSICAL. 



/ectunl or moral, as the panacea, we may sny 
that their iinduu expeclations are not without 
US* ; and Ihut perhaps it is part of the beneti- 
ctKJt order of tilings that their coutidence 
Uiuiiot be shaken. 

Even were it true, however, that by some 
posnible s3stem of moral government chil- 
dren coukl bemuuldedinto tlie desired form, 
and even could every parent be duly ind(;c- 
trinated with tins system, we should still be 
far from uehievimc the object in view. It is 
fornjotlea that the carrying out of any such 
eyslem ]jre«upposes, on the part of adults, a 
degree of intelligence, of g odness, of si If- 
control, possessed by no one. The great 
error made by those who discu.ss questions 
of juvenile discipline is in asi:iil)ing all the 
faults and difflculties to the (hildren, and 
none to the parents. The <'urrent assump- 
tion respecting family goveiument, as re- 
specting national government, is, that the 
virtues are with the rulers and the vices with 
the ruled. Judging by educational theoiies, 
nieu and women are entirely transfigured in 
the domestic relation. The citizens we do 
business with, the people wn meet in the 
world, we all know to be very imperfect 
creatures. In the daily scandals, in the quar- 
reis oi fricnus, m banUrupicy disclosures, ir; 
lawsuits, ill police reports, we have con- 
stantly thiust before us the pervading self- 
ishness, dishonesty, brutality. Yet when 
we criticise nursery management, and can- 
Va.ss the misbehavior of juveniles, we habit- 
ually take for granted that these culpable 
men and women are free from moral delin- 
<>ucncy in the treatment of their otlspring ! 
80 far is this from the truth that we do not 
hesitate to say that to parents! misconduct is 
traceable a great part of the domestic disor- 
der commonly ascribed to the perversity of 
children. We do not assert this of the more 
sympathetic and self-restrained, among 
whom we hope most of our readers may be 
classed, but wo assert it of the mass. What 
kind of moral discipline is to be expected 
from a mother who, time after time, angrily 
.shakes her infant because it will not suckle 
Ler, which we once saw a mother do? Hew 
much love of justice and generosity is likely 
to be instilled bj' a father who, on having his 
attention drawn by his child's scream to the 
/act that its finger is jammed between the 
window sash and the sill, forthwith begins to 
beat the child instead of releasing it? Yet 
tliat there are such fathers is testified to us 
by an eye-v.-itness. Or, to take a still strong- 
er case, also vouched for by direct testi- 
mony— what are the educational prospects 
cf the boy who, on being taken home with 
a dislocated thigh, is saluted with a castiga- 
tion ? It is true that these aie extreme in- 
fitances— instHuces exhibiting in human be- 
ings that blind instinct which impels brutes 
to destroy the weakly and uijured of their 
own race. But extreme though they are, 
they typify feelings and conduct daily obseiv- 
al)le in mtuiy families. Who has not le- 
peatedly seen a child slupj)ed by nurse or 
uareut, for a fretfulness probably resulting 



from bodily derangement ? Who, when 
watching a mother snatch up a fallen little 
one, has not often traced, both ifl the rough 
maimer and in the shai ply -utlered exclama- 
tion, " You stupid little thing!" an irasci- 
bility foretelling endless future squabbles? 
Is there not in the harsh tones in winch a 
father bids his children be quiei, evidence of 
a deficient fellow-feeling with them ? Are 
not the constant, and often quite needless 
thwarting.^ that the young experience — the 
injunctions to sit still, wliTch an active child 
cannot obey witii xit suifering great nervous 
irritation, the commands not to look out of 
the window wiien travelling by lailway, 
which on a child of any inlelligence entails 
serious deprivation — aie hot these thwart- 
ings, we ask, signs of a terrible lack of sym- 
pathy ? The truth is, that the didiculties of 
moral education are necessarily of dual or- 
igin — necessarily result fiom the combined 
faults of parents and children. If hereditaiy 
transmission is a law of nature, as every nat- 
uralist knows it to be, and as our dady le- 
marks and current proverbs admit it to be. 
then, on the average of cases, the defects of 
childien miiror the defects of their paienis ; 
on the average of cases, we say, because, 
complicated as the lesults are by the trans- 
milted tiaits of rtmoter ancestors, the cor- 
respondence is not special but only general. 
And if, on the aveuige of cases, this inheiit- 
auce of defects exists, then the evil passions 
which parents have to check in their chil- 
dren imply like evil passions in themselves : 
hidden, it may be, from the public eye, or 
perhaps cbscnred by other feelings, but still 
there. Evidently, therefore, the general 
practice of any ideal system of discipline is 
hopeless : paienis are not good enough. 

Moreover, even were there methods by 
which the dtsirtd end could be at once 
effected, and e; en had fathtrs and mothers 
sufticient insight, s^nnathy, and self-ccm. 
mand to enqiloy ihese methods ccnsisimlly, 
it might fctill be conltnded that it would be 
of no use to refcrm family discipline fasiei 
than other thimrs are reformed. What is it 
that we aim to do V Is it not that education 
or whatever kind has for its proximate end 
to prepare a ( hiid for the business of lift — to 
produce a citizen who, at the same time that 
he is well conducted, is aiso able to make his 
way in the world? And does not making 
his way in the world (by which we mean, 
not the acquirement of wealth, but of the 
means nqiusile for properly bringing up a 
family) — noes not this imply a ceitain tiluess 
for the w((ild as it now is? And if by any 
system of cuiture an idial human being could 
r,c produced, is it not doid)tlu! whellier he 
would Do ^t for the world as it now is? 
May we not, on thecontiaiy, suspect ihat his 
tov keen sense of rer titude. and too elevated 
Flandaid of conduct, would make life alike 
intolerable and impossible? And however 
rdmirable the results might be, considered in- 
dividually, would it net be self defeating in 
so far as toddy and posterity are con- 
cerned ? It may, we think, be aigucd with 



!i 



EDUCATION: INTELLECTUAL. MORAL, AND PHYSICAL. 



linicb, reason, that us in una) ion, so in a fam- 
ily, tlio kind of govoinineul is, (/n tLc uhcle. 
alKJut as good as the gtueitvl stjite of liumiiii 
nuturc jurniits it tu bo. It i.iay lie .sai(l that 
in the one cas.e, as in the olhei, the aveia/vo 
character of the people determines the qual- 
i!y of the control exercised. It K"!iiy he in- 
ferred that in I'oth cases amelioialif.n of the 
average chaiacur leads to an aniolioiatiun of 
system ; and fuither, tliat weie it poysible to 
ameliorate the system without (he a\eujgo 
character being iirst ameliorated, evil, inther 
than good, -would follow. It may be urgtd 
that such degree of harshness as children 
now experience from their parent.s and teach- 
ers, ia but a preparation for thnt greater 
liarshness v.'hich they will meet wiih on en- 
tering the W(jrld ; and that were it possible 
for parents and teachcra to behave tovi'ard 
them with perfect equity and entire sympa- 
thy, it would but inlinsify the sufferings 
which the teliishness of men must, in after 
lif''. intl'ct on them. 

" But does not this prove too much ?" 
some one witl ask. " If no system of moral 
culture can forthwith make children alto- 
gether what they should be ; if, even were 
there a system that would d.> tuis. existuig 
paient.s are too imperfect to carry it out ; 
and if even coidd such a sj-.-^tem l)e success- 
fully carried out, it.s results would be disas- 
trou.sly incongruous with the present state of 
society ; does it not follow that a reform in 
the system novv in usa i.s neither practicable 
nor desirable?" No. It merely follows that 
reform in domestic government must go on, 
pari paMu., wiih otlier reforms. It merely 
follows that methods of discipline neither can 
be nor should be amelioraled, except by in- 
stalments;. It me.ely follows that the dic- 
tsites of abstract rectitude will, in practice, 
inevitaiily be subirdinuted l)y liie present 
state of huuum nalurti — bv the imperfections 
alike of children, of parents, and of society ; 
andean only be belier fulfilled as the gen- 
eral character becomes belter. 

"At any rale, liien," may rejoin our 
Clitic, "it is clearly useless to set up any 
ideal standard of fauiily discipline. Tiiere 
can be no advantage in elaborating and rec- 
ommending meihods that are in advance of 
the lime." Again we must contend for the 
coulcary. ,Just as in the case of political 
goverumeut, though pure rectitude may be 
at present impracticable, it is requisite to 
know wiiere tha right lies, so that tho 
cli,T,nges vi^e make may be toward the right 
instead of a/M.yfrom'it; so in the case of 
dome.stic goveinmeut, an ideal must be up. 
held, that ihere may be gradual approxima- 
tioas to it. \Vc need fear no evil conse.iueuces 
fntin the mainieuanee of such ao ideal. 
Ou the average ihe constitutional conserva- 
tism of mankind is always strong enough t() 
pf-eveut a too rapid change. So a.imirabio 
are the arrangements of things, that umii men 
hii.vti grown up to the level of a higher be- 
lief they cannot receive it ; nominally, they 
may hold it, but not virtually. And eveii 
When the truth gets rccogulzud, the oiisucifs 



to conformity with it are so persistent as to 
outlive the patience of philanthropists and 
even philosophers. We may be quite sure, 
iheiefore. that the mituy difhcullies standing 
Iq the way of a normal government of chil 
dreu. will always put au adequate check upon 
the efforts to rea.ize it. 

Witti the.-e preliminary explanations, let 
us go on to cousider the true anus and meth- 
od.-; of moral education — moral education, 
t^uictlyso culled, we mean; for we do not 
propose to enter upon the question of relig- 
ious education as an aid to the education 
exclusively moral. This we omit as a topic 
better dealt with separately. After a few 
p;iges devoted to the settlement of general 
principles, during the perusal of which we 
bespeak the reader's patience, we shall aim 
by illustrations to make clear the riglit meth- 
ods of parental behavior in the hourly-occur- 
rinij ditliculties of family government. 

When a child falls, or runs its head 
against the table, it suffers a pain, the re- 
membrance of which tends to make it mora 
careful for the future ; and by an occasional 
repetition of like experiences it is eventually 
disciplined into a proper guidance of its 
movements. If it lays hold" of the fire-bars, 
thru.sts its finger into the candle-flame, or 
spills boiling water on any part of its skiu, 
the resulting burn or scald is a lessan not 
easiiy forgotten. So deep an impression ia 
produced by cue or two such events that 
afterward no persuasion will induce it again 
to disregard the laws of its constitution in 
these ways. 

Now in these and like cases, nature illus- 
trates to U3 in the simplest way the true the- 
ory and practice of m iral discipline — a theory 
and practice which, however mucii they may 
seena to the supertieial liite those commonly 
received, we shall tiud on examination to 
tiiffer from them very widely. 

Observe, iu the first place, that in bodily 
injuries and their penalties we have miscon- 
duct and its consequences reduced to their 
simplest forms. T'jough, accoidiug to their 
popular acceptations, right nud iv/vng are 
words scarcely applicable to actions that have 
Doue but diiect bodily effeds, yet wiioever 
considers the matter will see that such actions 
must be as much classitiable under these 
heads as any olher actions. Fiom whatever 
bania they start, all theories of morality agree 
in considering that conduct whose total re- 
sults, immediate and remote, are beneticial, 
is good conduct ; while conduct whose total 
rcbiilts, immediate and remote, are injurious, 
is bad conduct. The happiness or misery 
caused by it are the ultimate stuudards by 
which all men judge of behavior. We con- 
eider drunkenness wrong because of the 
physical degeneracy and accompanying 
moral evils entailed on the transgressor antl 
his dependants. Did theft uniformly give 
pleasure both to taker and loser, wc slumld 
not find it in our catah)gae of sins. Were it 
conceivable that benevolent actions multiplied 
human pains, we should condemn them — 
should not cousider them beuevoknt. It 



294 



EDUCATION: INTELLECTUAL. MORAL, AND PHYSICAL. 



needs but to read the first newspaper leader, 
(>'• listen to any conversation touchinjj social 
rtff.iirs, to .see that acts of parliament, politi- 
«-ai movements, philan'Jiropic agitalions, in 
<!i)inifH)ii with the doin£;s of individuals, are 
jn )ye i hf their anticipated results in multi- 
plying the pleasures or pains of men. And 
if, on looking un all secondaiy superinduced 
uijns, we find tlx^se to be rur ultima'.e tests 
of right <md wrong, wo cannot refuse to class 
purely pliysical actions as right or wrong ac- 
cordinu; to the l)erielicial or detrimental re- 
suits they proiiuce. 

Note, in the second place, the character of 
the puuisliments l)y wiiich these piiysicat 
tiausgressious are prevented. Punishments 
•we call ihein in the absence of a better 
word, for they are not punishments in the 
literal sense. They are nut artiticial and un- 
n^^eessaiy iuHiclions of pain. Imt aie simply 
the beneficent checks to actions that are 
essentially at variance with bodily welfare — 
checks in the absence of which life would 
quickly be destroyed by bodily injuries. It 
is the peculiarity of these penalties, if we 
must so call them, that they are uotliiug 
more than tiie vnavoidnbls consequences of I lie 
deeds which they fuUovv ; they are nothing 
nrure than the iiuivUable leuciions entailed by 
the child's actions. 

Let it be further borne in mind that these 
painful reactions are proportionate to the de- 
gree in which the organic laws have been 
transgressed. A slight accident brings a 
slight pain, a more serious one a greater 
pain. When a child tumbles over the 
door-step, it is not ordained that it shall 
suffer in extiess of the amount necessary, 
with the viev/ of making it still more 
cautious than the necessary suffering will 
make it. But from its daily experience 
it is left to learn the greater or less pen- 
alties of greater or less errors, and to behave 
accordingly. 

.\nd then mark, lastly, that these natural 
reacti.)ns which follow the child's wrong ac- 
tions are constant, direct, unhesilaling, and 
not to be escaped. No threats, but a silent, 
rigorous perfoimance. If a child runs a pin 
into its linger, pain follows. If it does it 
again, tlieie is again the Siime result ; and so 
on perpetually. In all its dealings with sur- 
rounding inorganic nature it finds this un- 
swerving persistence, which listens to no ex- 
cuse, and from which there is no appeal ; and 
very soon recognizing this stern though 
beneficent discipline, it becomes extremely 
carefa. not to transgress. 

Still more siguilicant will these general 
truths appear wlien we remember that thej- 
bold throughout adult life as well as through 
aut infantine life. It is by an experiment- 
ally gained knowledge of the natural conse- 
quences that men and women are checked 
"when they go wrong. After home education 
has ceased, and when there are no longer 
parents and teachers to forbid this or that 
kind of conduct, there comes into play a dis- 
cipline like thai by which the young child is 
taught its first lessons in self-guidance. If 



the youth entering upon the business of life 
lilies away his time and fulfils slowly or un- 
skilfully the duties intrusted to him, there 
by and by follows the natural penalty : he 
is discharged, and left to suffer for a whilo 
the evils of relative poverty. On the un- 
punctual man, failing alike his appointments 
of business and pleasure, there continually 
fall the consequent inconveniences, losses, 
aud^lepiivations. The avaricious tradesman 
who charges too high a rate of piotit loses 
his customers, and so is checked in hi* 
greediness. Diminishing practice teaches 
the inattentive doctor to bestow more trouble 
on his patients. The too credulous creditor 
and the over-sanguine speculator ahke learn 
by the difficulties which rashness entails on 
them the necessity of being more cautious in 
their engagements. And so throughout th»> 
life of eveiy citizen. In the quotation si* 
often made a propos of these casis — "The 
burned child dreads the fire" — we see not 
only that the analogy between this social dis- 
cipline and nature's early discipline of infants 
is unii'ersally recognized, but we also see au 
implied coriviction that this discipline is of 
tile most elficient kind. Nay mure, this con- 
viction IS not only implied, but distinctly 
stated. Every one has heard others confess 
tliat only by " dearly bought e.xperieuce" 
had they been induced to give up some bad 
or foolish course of conduct foimerty pur- 
sued. Every one has heard, in the criticismsj 
passed on the doings of this spendthrift or 
the other speculator, the remaik that advice 
was useless, and that nothing but " bitter ex- 
perience" would produce any effect — noth- 
ing, that is, but sutTering the una voidable 
consequences. And if further pi oof be 
needed that the penalty of the natural reac- 
tion is not only the most efficient, but that nu 
humanly devised penalty can replace it, we 
have such further proof in the notorious ill- 
success of our various penal systems. Out 
of the many methods of criminal discipline 
that have been proposed and legally en- 
forced, none have answered the expectations 
of their advocates. Not only have* arlihcial 
punishments failed to produce reformation, 
but they have in many cases increased tho 
ciiminaiity. The only successful reformato- 
ries are those privately established ones which 
have approximated their regime to the method 
of nature — which have done little more than 
administer the natural consequences of crim- 
inal conduct ; the natural consequences be- 
ing that, by jmprisnr^ment or other lestruiul, 
the criminal shall have his liberty of action 
diminished as much as is needful for the 
safety of society, and that he shall be made 
to maintain hinjself while living under this 
restraint. Thus we see not only that tho dis- 
cipline by which the young ciiild is so suc- 
cessfully taught to 'eguhUe its movements s 
also the discipline by which the great mass 
of adults are kc[)t in order, and moie or lets 
improved, but that the di.scipliiie humiinly 
devised for the worst adults fails when it 
diverges frum this (iivineiy oiduinud disci- 
pline, and begins to succeed wlitn it appioaci- 



EDUCATION: INTELLECTUAL, MORAL, AND PHYSICAL. 



SriJS 



mates to it. 

Have we not here, then, the guiding prin- 
ciple of moral tciucalion? Must we uol in- 
fer th;it th« system SI) beneficenl in its eifects, 
alike rUiririii; infancy aud malurity, will be 
eciually bciieticent througboul youth V Can 
any one believe thai Ibe method which an- 
swers so well in the first and the last divi- 
sions of life will not answer in the intermedi- 
ate division? Is it not manifest that, as 
" ministers and interpreters of nature," it is 
the function of parents to see that their chil- 
dren habitually experience the true conse- 
quences of their conduct — the natural reac- 
tions ; neither warding them off; nor ini-eusi- 
fyiug them, nor putting aruficiai conse- 
quences in place of them ? No unprejudiced 
reader will hesitate in his assent. 

Probably, however, not a few v.'ill cnnlend 
that already most parents do this — thai llie 
punishments they inlliet are, in thenuijoiily 
of cases, the true consequences of ill-conduct 
— that paivntal anger, venting itself in harsh 
words and deeds, is tlie result of a child's 
transgression, and that, in the suffering, 
physical or moral, which the child is subject 
to, it experiences the natural reaction of its 
misbehavior. Along willi much error this 
assertion doubtless contains some truth. It 
is unquestionable that Uie displeasure of fa- 
thers aud mothers is a true consequence of 
juvenile delinquency, and that tbe manifes- 
tation of it is a normal clieck upon such de- 
linquency. It is unquestionable that the 
scoldings and threats and blows which a 
passionate parent visits on offending little 
ones are efTccls actually produced in such a 
parent by their offences, and so are, in some 
sort, to be considered as among the natural 
reactions of Hieir wrong actions. And we 
are by no means prepared to say that these 
modes of treatment are not relativel}' risrht — 
right, that is, in relation to the uncontrollable 
children of ill-coulrolled adults, and right in 
relation to a state of society in which such 
ill-controlled adults make up the mass of the 
people. As already suggested, educational 
Kystems, like political and other institu- 
tions, are generally as good as the state 
of human ualure permits. The barbar- 
ous children of barbarous parents are 
probably only to be restrained by the barbar- 
ous methods which such parents spontane- 
ously employ ; while submission to these 
barbarous methods is perhaps tiie best prepa- 
ration such children can have for the barbar- 
ous society in which they are presently to 
jMay a part. Conversely, the civilized mem- 
bers of a civilized society will spontaneously 
manifest their displeasure in less violent; 
waj's — will spontaneously use milder meas- 
ures — measures strong enough for their bet- 
ter-natured children. Thus it is doubtless 
true that, in so far as the expression of pa- 
rental feeling is concerned, the principle of 
the natural reaction is always more or less 
followed. The system of domestic govern- 
ment ever gravilates toward its right form. 

But now observe two important facts. In 
the first place, observe that, in states of rapid 



transiliou like ours, which witness a long 
drawn buttle between old ami new tlieorita 
«and old aud new pnu-tices, the educalioiia; 
methods in use are apt to be considerably out 
of harmony with the times. In deference to 
dogmas fit only for ihe ages that uttered 
them, many parents intiiel punisliments that 
do violence to their own feelings, aud so visit 
on their childrLti 'f/iuatural reactions ; while 
other parents, enthusiastic in their hopes of 
immediate perfection, rush to the opposite 
extreme. Aud then observe, in the .second 
place, that the discipline on which we are iii- 
sisling is not so much the experience of pa- 
rental approlialiou or disapprobation, wdiich, 
in most cases, is only a secondary consequence 
of a child's conduct, but it is the experience 
of those results which would naturally flow 
from the conduct in the absence of parental 
opinion or iulerference. The truly instruc- 
tive and salulaiy consequences are not those 
inflicted by parents when they take upon 
themselves to be nature's proxies, but they 
are those inflicted by nature herself. We 
will endeavor to make this distinction cl( ar 
by a few illuslrations, which, while they 
show what we mean bj' natural reactions as 
contrasted with artificial ones, will afford 
some directly piaclical suggestions. 

In every family where there are young chil- 
dren there almost daily occur cases of what 
mothers and servants call " making a litter." 
A child has had out its box of toys, and leaves 
them scattered about the floor ; or a hand- 
ful of flowers, brought in from a morning 
walk, is presently' seen dispersed over tables 
and chairs-, or a little girl, making doll'a- 
clothes, disfigures the room with shreds. In 
4 most cases the trouble of rectifying this dis- 
g order falls anywhere but in the right place : 
if in the nuivery, the nurse her.self, with 
many grumblings about " tiresome little 
things," etc., undertakes the task ; if below 
stairs, the task usually devolves either on one 
of the elder children or on the housemaid, 
the transgressor being visited wiih nothing 
more than a scolding. In this very simple 
case, however, there are many paients wise 
enough to follow out, more or less consis- 
tently, the normal cour.se — that of making 
the child itself collect the toys or shreds. 
The labor of puttiug things in order is the 
true consequence of having put them in dis- 
order. Every trader in his ofiice, every wife 
in her household, has daily experience of this 
fact, ^nd if education be a preparation for 
the business of life, then every child should 
also, from the beginning, have daily experi- 
ence of this fact. If the natural penalty be 
met by any refractory behavior (which it may 
perhaps be where the genera! system of moral 
discipline previously pui'sued has been bad), 
then the proper course is to let the child feel 
the ulterior leaclion consequent on its disobe- 
dience. Having refused or neglected to pick 
up and put away the things it has scattered 
about, and having thereby entailed the trou- 
ble of doing this on some one else, the child 
should, on subsequent occasions, be denied 
the means of giving this trouble. When next 



296 



EDUCATION: INTELLECTUAL. MOKAL, AND PHYSICAL. 



It petitions for its toy-box, tb« reply of its 
marama should be, '"' The last time you had 
your toys you left theui lying tn the tloor, 
aad Jane hiid to pit-k ihctu ap. Jane is to.i 
busy to pick up every day the thiiigs you 
Iciivc iibodt, and I cannot do it niysell'. So 
t;i:ir, as you will net put fv.vay your toys 
vvlinn you hxve done with them, I cannot let 
you have Iheni." Tills is obviously a natu- 
ral consequfnco, neither increased nor les- 
sened, and must be so lecogaized by a child. 
The penalt}- c;)mc3, t .'O, til the moment when 
it, ij ino.-^t keenly felt. A riev.'-born desire is 
balked at the moment of anticipated g:utiti- 
culiou, and the strong impression so pro- 
duced can scaicely fail to have an effect on 
the future ci)n(luci — an effect which, by con- 
sistent repeiiticu, w.ll ilo whatever (an he 
done in cuiiog tlie fhiilt. Add to whit'h 
that, by this method, a child is early tautrht 
the l-esson which cannot be learned loo soon, 
tliat in this world of ours pleasuies arc right 
ly to be obtained only by labor. 

Take au(jth'.'r case. Not lon/r since we 
had frequently to listen to the /epriniauds 
visited on a liltie giil who was scaicely ever 
ready in time tor ilio dail}- waik. Of ea,<;er 
disposition, and apt to become thoroughly 
absorbed in the occupation of the muuu-nt, 
Constance never thought of putting en licr 
things until tiie rest weie ready. The gov- 
erness and the other ihildieu had ahnost in- 
yaiiat)ly to wait, and from the mamma there 
almost invariably came the same scolding. 
Utterly as this system failed it never oecurn d 
to the mamma to let Constance expeiience the 
natural penalty; nor, indeed, would she try 
It when it was suggested to her. In the 
world the penalty of being bchiniltime is the 
loss of some advantage that would else have 
been gained : the train is gone, or the steam- 
boat is just leaving \ts moorings, or the best 
tlrugs in the market are sold, or all the 
goixl seats ui the concert-room are tilled. 
And every one, in cases perpetually occur 
ring, may see that it is the prospective depri- 
vations entailed by lieing too late whi( h pro- 
vent people from being too late. Is not the 
inference obvious V IShould not these pros- 
pective deprivations control the child's con- 
duct also? If Constance is ncit ready at the 
appointed time, the naluriil result is that of 
being left behind, and losing her wrdk. And 
no one can, we ihmk, doubt iliat after hav- 
ing once or twice remained at home while 
the rest were enjoying themselves in the 
fields, and after having fell that this loss of a 
much-prized gratili cation was solely due to 
want of pr'imptuudi*, some amendment 
would take place. At any rate, the measure 
would be more eifrdive than that perpeluid 
sc-'^lding which ends only in producing cal- 
lousness. 

Again, when children, with more than 
usual carelessness, break or lo,-e the thin.ys 
given to Iheni, the natuial penally — the pen- 
alty which makes grov;u up persons moie 
careful — is tlie consequent inconvenience. 
Tho want of tlie lost or damaged article and 
Uia coBt of supplying its place are the experi- 



ences by which men and women aro disci- 
plined in these matters ; and the experience of 
childveu should be as much as piJHsible as- 
similated to theirs. We do not refer to that 
early period at which toys are pulled to 
pieces in the process of learning their ()hysi- 
cal properties, and at which tlic resrdts of 
carelessness cannot be understood, but to a 
later period, when the meaning and advan- 
tages of properly are perceived. When a 
boy old enough to possess a penknife uses 
it so roughly as to snap the blade, or It avca 
it in the grass by some hedge-side, where 
ho was cutting a stick, a thoughtless parent 
or some indulgent relative will commonly 
forthwith buy him another, not seeing that, 
by doing this, a valuable lesson is lost. In 
such a case a father may properly explain 
that penknives cost money, and that to get 
money requires labor ; that he cannoL afford 
to purchase new penkniver^ for cne who loses 
or breaks tliem, and that until he sees evi- 
dence of greater carefulness he must decline 
to make good the loss. A parallel disci- 
pline may be used as a means of checking 
exifavagance. 

These few familiar instances, here chosen 
because of the simplicity witii which they 
illustrate cur poini, will make clear to every 
one the distinction between those natural 
penalties, which we contend are the tiuly ffQ- 
neut ones, and those aitilicial penalties 
which parents commonly substiiute for 
them. Before going on to exhibit the higher 
and subtler applications of this principle, let 
us note its many and great superiorities over 
the piinciple, or rather the empirical prac- 
tice, which prevails iu most families. 

In the first place, right conceptions of 
cause andeflVctaie early formed, and by fre- 
quent and consistent experience aie event- 
ually lendered definite and complete.. Proper 
conduct in life is mu<'h better gUHrantecd 
when the gucd and evil consequences of ac- 
tions are lulionally understood than whtu 
they are merely believed on authority. A 
child who finds that disordeiliness entails the 
subsequent trouble of putting things in order, 
or who misses a giatificalion from dilatoii- 
ntss, or whose want of care is followed by 
the loss or breakage of some much-prized 
possession, not only experiences a keenly-felt 
consequence, but gains a knowledge of causa- 
tion — both the one and the other being just 
like those which adult life will bring; 
whereas a child who in such cases receives 
scmie reprimand or some factitious penalty 
not only experiences a conserjuence for which 
it often cares very little, but lacks that iu 
slruction respecting the essential natures of 
goud and evil conduct which it would else 
have gathered. It is a vice of the common 
system of artificial rewards and punishments 
lung since noticed by the clear-sighleil, that 
by substituting for the natural results of mis- 
behavior cei tain threatened tasks or castiga- 
tions, it produces a radically wrong standard 
of moral guidance. Having throughout in- 
fancy and boyhood ahvays regarded parental 
or lutoiial displeasure as the result of a for 



I' 



EDUCATION: INTELLECTUAL, MORAL. AND PHYSICAL. 



297 



' jdflcn action, the youtli has gained an cistab- 
iished associaliou of ideas between sueh ac- 
tion and such displeasure as cause and 
effect ; and conpequently when parents and 
tuioTB have abdicated, and their displeasure 
is not to be feared, the restraint on a for- 
bidden action is in jj,reat measure removed, 
the true restraints, the natural reactions, hav- 
ing; yet to be learned by sad experi< nee. As 
writes one who has had personal knowledge 
of this short-siglited system : " Young men 
let loose from sciiool, partieuiarly iho^e whose 
parents have neglected to exert their inHuenee, 
plunge int<) every description of extrava- 
gance ; they knuw no rule of action — they 
are ignorant of the reasons for moral con- 
duct—they have no foundation to rest Ujiou, 
and until Ihey have been severely disciplined 
by the world are extremely dangerous mem- 
bers of society." 

Anotker great advantage of this natural 
system of discipline is, that; it i; a system of 
pure .iustice, and will be recognized by every 
child as such. Whoso suffers nothing more 
than the evil which obvi;;uslv follows natu- 
rally from his own misbehavior is much 
less likely to think himself wrongly (rt-ated 
than if he suffeis an evil artiticially inllictrd 
on him ; and this will be true of chiMri n as 
of men. Take the case of a boy who is ha- 
bitually reckless of his clothes — scrambles 
through hedges without caution, or is ulleily 
regardless of mud. If he is beaten or sent 
to bed, lie is apt to regard himself as ill- 
used, and his mind is more likely to be oc- 
cupied b}' thinking over his injuries than re- 
penting of his transgresi-ions. But suppose 
he is reqiiired to rectify as far as he can the 
harm he has done — to clean oti' the mud with 
which he has covered himself, or to rni-ni 
the tear as well as he can. Will lio not feel 
that tlie evil is one of his own producing? 
Will he not while payiag this penalty i)e 
continuously conscious of The conn.'ctio.i be- 
tween it and its cause? And wdl lie n'>t, 
spite his irritation, recognize more or les.i 
clearly the justice of the arrangement? If 
several lessons of tiiis kind fail ti> produce 
amendment; if suits of clothes are piema- 
turely spoiled ; if, pursuing this siiiiii a-y^ium 
of discipline, a father declines to spend 
money for new oms until the ordinary lime 
has elapsed, and if meanwhile there occur 
occasions on which, having no decent cloijiec 
to go in, the boy is debarred from joining 
the rest of the family on holiday ex.cur.siuns 
audfeie days, it is manifest that while he will 
keenly feel the punishment lie can scaiccly 
fail to trace the cliain of causati m, and to 
perceive that his ovvn carelessness is tlie ori- 
gin of it ; and seeing this, he will not have 
that same sense of injustice as when llie.io is 
no obvious connecliou between the Liausgies- 
Bion and its penalty. 

Again, the tempers both of paients and 
children are much less liable to be tutiled uu- , 
der this system than under the otdinary sys- 
tem. Instead of letting children expeiience 
the painful results which naturally follow 
from, wronij conduct, the usual course pursued 



by parents is to inflict themselves certain other 
painful results. A double mischief arises from 
this. Making, as they do, multiplied family 
laws, and identifying their own supremacy 
and dignity with the maintenance of these 
laws, it hapi^ens iliat every transgression 
conips to be ri'garded as an offence agtimt 
themselves, and a cau^e of auger on then- 
part. Add t> wiiich ilie fuither irrilatiuas 
which result from taking upon themselves, 
in the siiape of extra labor or cost, those evil 
consequences wiiich should have been al- 
lowed to tall on the wrong-doers. Similaily 
with tlie children. PemUies which the 
necessary reaction of things biings round 
upon them — penalties which are inflicted by 
impersonal agency — produce an irritation that 
is comparatively slight and transient ; where- 
as penalties which are voluntarily iullicted 
by a parent, and are afterwaid remembered 
as caused by him or her, produce an irrita- 
tion both grealer and moie coniinued. Just 
consider hov/ disastrous would be the result 
if this empiiical method were pursued from 
the begiuuing. Suppose it were possible for 
parents to takf upon themselves the physical 
sutleiiugs entailed on their children by igno- 
rance and awkwardness, and that while 
bearing thvse evil consequences they visited 
on their cniluren certain other evil conse- 
quences, witii the view of teachinc Hum tiie 
impropriety of their conduct. Suppose that 
when a child, wIkj had been forbidden to 
meddle with the kettle, spilled some boiling 
water on its foot, the moilicr vicariously as- 
sumed the scald and gave a blow in place of 
it ; and similarly in ail other cases. Would 
not the daily mishaps be sources of far more 
anger than now? Would there not be 
chronic ill-temper on both sides? Yet an 
exactly parallel policy is pursued in after 
years. A father who punishes his boy for 
carelessly or wilfuil}'^ breaking a sister's toy, 
and then himself ))ays for a new toy, does 
substantially this same thing — inliicts an arti- 
ficial penally on the trau'-gressor, and takes 
the natural penalty on himself — his own feel- 
ings and those of the transgressor l)eing alike 
ne'nliessly irritated. If he simply required 
resliluLion to l>e made, he would produce far 
Itss heart-burning. If Jie told the boy that a 
new toy must be bought at his, the boy's, 
cost, and that his supply of px'kct-money 
must be withheld to the needful extent, there 
woulil be much less cause for ebullition of 
temper on eilher side ; while in the deprivsi- 
tion afterward felt the boy would experience 
the equitiible s\v.d salutary consequence. In 
l)rief, the system of discipline by natu;al 3e- 
actions is less injurious to temper, alike be- 
cause il is perceived on bf)lh sides to be noth- 
ing more than pure justice, and because it 
more or less substitutes the impersonal 
agency of nature for the personal agency of 
parents. 

Whenc^o also ft>llow3 the manifest corol- 
laiy, that under this system the parental and 
filial relation wdl be' a more friendly and 
therefore a moie intlaential one. Whether 
in parent or child, auger, however caused. 



298 



EDUCATION: INTELLECTUAL, MORAL, AND PHYSICAL. 



and to whomsoever directed, is more or Icsr? 
detrimeiihil. But auger in a parent toward ii 
child aud in a child toward a paientis csjie 
cially detrimental, becauftC it weakens Uiat 
bond of sympathy wiiich is essential to a 
beneficent control. In virtue of the general 
law of association of ideas, it inevitably re- 
sults, both in young and old, that dislike is 
contracted towaid things which in our experi- 
ence are habitually connected with disagree- 
able feelings ; or where attachment originally 
existed, it is weakened, or destroyed, ortutu- 
ed into repugnance, according to the quantity 
of painful nnpressious recei. ed. Parenta^ 
wrath, with its accompanying reprimands 
and castigatious, cannot fail, if often repeat- 
ed, to produce filial alienation ; while the re- 
sentment and snlUiness of children cannot 
fail to weaken the affection felt fm- them, and 
may even end in destroying it. Hence the 
numerous cases in which parents (and espe- 
cially fathers, who are commonly deputed to 
express the anger and inflict the punishment) 
are regarda-i willi indifference, if not with 
aversion, and hence the equally numerous 
cases in which children are looked upon as 
inrtictions. Seeing, then, as all must do, 
that estrangement of this kind is fatal lo a 
salutary moral culture, it follows thai parents 
cannot be too solicitous in avoiding occasions 
of direct antagonism with their children — oc- 
casions of personal resentment ; and there- 
fore they cannot too anxiously avail them- 
selves of this discipline of natural conse- 
quences — this system of letting the penalty 
be inflicted by tiie laws of things, which, by 
saving the parent from the function of a 
penal agent, prevents these mutual exaspera- 
tions and estiangements. 

Thus we see that this method of moial cul- 
ture by experience of the normal reactions, 
which is the divinely-ordained method alike 
for infancy and for adult life, is equally ap- 
plicable during the intermediate childhood 
and youth. And among the advantages of 
this method we see, first, that it gives 
that rational comprehension of right and 
wrong conduct which results from actual ex- 
perience of the good and bad consequences 
caused by them; second, that the child, 
suffering nothing mure than the painful 
effects brought upim it by its own wrong 
actions, must recognize more or less clearly 
the justice of the penalties; third, that, 
recognizing the justice of the penalties, 
and receiving those penalties thtough the 
working of things, rather than at the 
liands of an individual, its temper will be 
less disturbed; while the parent, occupy- 
ing the comparatively passive position of 
taking care that the natural penalties are felt, 
will prcKcrve a comparative equanimity; 
and, fourth, that mutual exasperation be- 
ing thus in great measure prevented, a much 
happier and a more influential stale of feel- 
ing will cxi.=t between parent and child. 

" But what is to be (lone with more serious 
misci.nduct ?" some will ask. " How is this 
plan to be cariied cut when a petty theft has 
been committed? or when a lie has been 



told? or when some younger brotlier or cis- 
ter has been ill-used ?" 

Before replying to these questions, let us 
consider the bearings of a lew illustrative 
facts. 

Living in the family of his brother-in-law, 
a friend of ours had undertaken the educa- 
tion of his little nephew and niece. This ho 
had conducted, moie peihaps from natural 
sympathy than from reasoned-out conclu- 
sions, in the spirit of the method above set 
forth. The two children were in doors his 
pupils and out of doors his companions. 
They daily joined him in walks and botaniz- 
ing excursions, eagerly sought out plants for 
liim, looked on while he examined and iden- 
tified them, and in this and other ways were 
ever gaining both pleasure and in.^lniction in 
his society. In short, morally considered, he 
stood to them much more in the position of 
parent than either their father or mother did. 
Describing to us the results of this policy, he 
gave, among other instances, the ff)llowing : 
One evening, having need for some article 
l^dng in another part of the house, he asked 
his nephew to fetch it for him. Deeply ir- 
teresled as the boy was in some amusement 
of the moment, he, contrary to his wont, 
either exhibited gieat reluctance or refused, 
we forget which. His uncle, disappioving 
of a coercive course, fetched it himself, 
merelj'' exhibiting by his manner the annoy- 
ance this ill-behavior gave liim. And when, 
later in the evening, the boy made overtures 
for the usual play, they were gravely repelled 
— the uncle manifested just that coldness of 
feeling naturally produced in him, and so let 
the boy experience the necessary conse- 
quences of his conduct. Next morning, at 
the usual time for rising, our friend he'ard a 
new voice outside the door, and in walked 
his little nephew with the hot water ; and 
then the boy, peering about the room to see 
what else could be done, exclaimed, " Oh, 
you want your boots," and forthwith rushed 
downstairs to fetch them. In this andoUier 
ways he showed a ttue penitence for his mis- 
conduct ; he endeavored by unusual services 
to make up for the service he had refused ; 
his higher feelings had of themselves con- 
quered his lower ones, and acquired stiength 
by the conquest ; and he valued more than 
before the friendship he thus regained. 

This gentleman is now himself a father ; 
acts on the same system, and finds it answer 
compb tely. He makes iiimself thoroughly 
his children's friend. The evening is longed 
for by them because he will be at home, and 
they especially enjoy the Sunday because he 
is with them all day. Thus possessing their 
perfect confidence and affection, he finds 
that the sim|)le display ol his approbation or 
disapprobation gives liim abundant power of 
control. If, on his return home, iie hears 
that one of his boys has been naughty, he 
beliaves toward him with that comparative 
coldne.ss which the consciousness of the boy's 
misconduct naturally produces, and he finds 
this a most etficient punishment. The mere 
withholding of tlie usual caresses is a source 



i| 



EDUCATION: INTELLECTUAL. MORAL, AND PHYSICAL. 



2^9 



of the keenest distress — produces a much 
more piolunged til of cryiug than a beating 
would do. And the dread of this purely moral 
penally is, he says, ever present during his 
absence ; so much so that frequently during 
the day his children inquire of their mamma 
how they have behaved, and whether the re- 
port will bu good. Recently the eldest, an 
active urchin of five, in one of those bursts 
of animal spirits common in healthy chil- 
dren, committed sundry extravagances dur- 
ing his mamuia's absence — cut off part of 
his brother's hair and wounded himself with 
a razor taken from his father's dressing-case. 
Hearing of these occurrences on his return, 
the fattier did not speak to the boy either 
that night or ne.xt morning. Not only was 
the tribulatir)a great, but the subsequent 
effect was, that when, a few days after, the 
mamma was about to go out, she was ear- 
nestly entreated by the boy not to do so ; and, 
on iuquiry, it appeared his fear was that he 
might again transgress in her absence. 

We have introduced these fads before re- 
plying to the question, " Wiiat is to be done 
"with the graver offences?" for tlie purpose 
of first exhibiting the relation that niu}'' and 
ought to be establislied l)et\veen parents and 
children ; for on the exislenoeof this relation 
depends the successful treaiment of these 
graver offences. And as a fuitlier prelimi- 
nary, we must now point out that the estab- 
lishment of this relation will result frona 
adopting the system we advocate. Alrea ly 
we have shown that by letting a child expe- 
rience simply the painful reactions of its own 
wrong actions, a parent in great measure 
avoids assuming the attitude of an enemy, 
and escapes being regarded as one ; hut it 
still remains to be shown that where this 
course has been consistently pursued from 
the beginning, a strong feeling of active 
friendship will be generated. 

At present mothers and fathers are mostly 
considered by their offspring as friend-ene- 
mies. Determined as their impressions in- 
evitably are by the treatment they receive, 
and oscillating as that treaiment does be- 
tween bribery and thwarting, between pet- 
ting and scolding, between gentleness and 
castigation, children necessarily acquire cun- 
flicting beliefs respecting the parental char- 
acter. A mother commonly tiimks it quite 
sufficient to tell her little boy that she is his 
best friend, and, assuming that he is in duty 
bound to believe her, concludes that he wiil 
forthwith do so. " It is all for your good ;" 
" I know what Ts proper for you better than 
you do yourself ;" " You are not old enough 
to understand it now, but when you grow up 
you will thank me for doing what I do" — 
these and like assertions are dail}' reiter- 
ated. Meanwhile the boy is daily suffering 
positive penalties, and is hourly fi)rbidden 
to do this, that, and the other wliich he was 
anxious to do. By words he hears that his 
happiness is the end in view, but from the 
accompanying deeds he habitually receives 
more or less pain. Utterly incompetent as he 
IB to understand i!iat futuie which his 



mother has in view, or how this treatment 
conduces to the happiness of that future, he 
judges by such results as he feels ; and find- 
ing these results anything but pleasurable, 
he becomes sceptical respecting these pro- 
fessions of friendship. And is it not folly 
to expect any other issue? Must not the 
child judge by sucii evidence as he has got? 
and does not this evidence seem to warrant 
his conclusion ? The mother would reason 
in just the same way if similarly placed. If, 
in the circle of her acquaintance, she found 
some one vvho was constantly thwarting her 
"wishes, uttering sharp reprimands, and oc- 
casionally inflicting actual penalties on her, 
she would pay but little attention to any pro- 
fessions of anxiety for her welfare which ac- 
companied these acts. Why. tnen, does she 
suppose that her boy will conclude otherwise ? 
But now observe how different will be the 
results if the system we contend for be con- 
sistently pursued — if the mother not only 
avoids becoming the instrument of punish- 
ment, but plays the part of a friend, by warn- 
ing her bo3' of the punishments which niiture 
will inflict. Take a case, and that it may 
illustrate the mode in which this policy is to 
be early initiated, let it be one of the sim- 
plest cases. Suppose that, prompted by the 
experimental spirit so conspicuous in chil- 
dren, whose proceedings instinctively con- 
form to the influelive method of inquiry — 
suppose that, so prompttd, the child is nmus- 
iug himself by lighting pieces of paper in the 
candle and watching them bum. If his 
mother is of the ordinary unretlective stamp, 
she will either, on the plea of keeping the 
child "out of mischief," or from fear that 
he will burn himself, command him to de- 
sist, and in case of non-compliance will 
snatch the paper from him. On the other 
hand, should he be so fortunate as to have a 
mother of sufficient rationality, who knows 
that this interest with which the child is 
watching the paper ))urn results from a heal- 
thy inquisitiveness, without which he would 
never iiave emerged out of infantine stupid- 
ity, and who is also wise enough to consider 
the moral results of interference, she will 
reason thus : " If I put a stop to this I shall 
lire vent I he acquirement of a ci-rtain amount 
of knowledge. It is true that I may save the 
child from a burn ; but what then ? He is 
sure to burn himself some time ; and it is 
quite essential to his safely in life tliat he 
siiould learn by experience the properties of 
llaine. Moreover, if I forbid him from run- 
ning this present risk, he is sure hereafter to 
run the same or a greater risk when no one 
is present to prevent him ; whereas, if he 
should have any accident now that 1 am by, 
1 can save him from any great injury ; add 
to which the advantage that he will have iu 
(future some dread of fire, and w^ill be le.ss 
likely to burn himself to death, or set the 
house in a flame when others are absent. 
Furthermore, were I to make him desist, I 
should thwart him in the pursuit of what is 
in itself a purely harmless and, indeed, in 
struclive gratification ; and he would be sure 



?00 



EDUCATION: INTELLECTUAL. MORAL, AND PHYSICAL. 



to regard me with more or less ill-feeling. 
Ignarant as he is of iJie puia from Vthich I 
would save him, and feeling only t lie pain of 
a hniiced desire, he could not fail to look upon 
nie as the cause of that pain. To save him 
from a hurt which he cannot conceive, and 
which has therefore no existence for him, I 
iatiict upon him a hurt which he feels keenly 
enough, and so become, from his point of 
■view, a minister of evil. My best course 
then is simply to warn him of tiie danger, 
and to 1)6 ready to prevent any serious dam- 
age." And following out this conclusion, 
she says to the child, " I fear you will hurt 
yourself if you do that." Suppose, now, 
tliat the child perseveres, as he will very prob- 
ably do, and suppose that he ends by burn- 
ing himself. What are the results? In the 
first place he has gained an expeiience which 
he must gain cvenlually, and which, for his 
own safety, he cannot gain too soon ; and, 
in the second place, he has found that his 
mother's disapproval or warning was meant 
for his welfare : he has a further positive ex- 
perience of her benevolence — a further reason 
for placing confidence in her judgment and 
her kindness — a further ieas(jn for loving 
her. 

Of course, in those occasional hazards 
where there is a risk of broken limbs or other 
serious bodily injury, forcible prevention is 
called for. JBut leaving out these extreme 
cases, the system pursued should be not that 
of guarding a child against the small dangers 
into which it daily runs, but that of advising 
and warning it against them. And by con- 
sis^tcnlly pursuing this course, a much strong- 
er filial atleclion will be generated than 
commonly exists. If here, as elsewuere. the 
discipline of the uatuial reactions is allowed 
to come into play— if in all those out-of-door 
scram hlings and in-door experiments, by 
which children are hable to hurt themselves, 
they are allowed to persevere, subject only 
to dissuasion more or less earnest according 
to the risk, tjjere cannot fail to arise an ever- 
increasing faith in the parental friendship 
and guidance. Not only, as before shown, 
does the adoption of this principle enable 
fathers and mothers to avoid the chief part 
of that odium which aftachcs to the infiic- 
lion of positive punishment ; but, as we here 
see, it enables them further to avoid the odi- 
imi that attaches to constant thwartiugs, and 
even to turn each of those incidents which 
commonly cause K]uabbles into a means of 
Btrenglhening the mutual got d feelmg. In- 
stead of being tohl in words, which deeds 
eevm to contradict, that their parents are 
tlieir best friends, children will learn this 
truth by a consistent daily expeiience ; and 
8o learning it, will acquire a degree of trust 
nnd attachment which nothing else can give. 
And now having indicated the much more 
ej'mpalhetic relation which must result fiom 
th*" habitual use of this method, let us return 
to the question above put. How is this 
i;.rthr.d to be applied tolhegiaver offences? 

Note, in the first place, that these giaver 
ufftnces are likely to be both less fiequeut 



and less grave under the regime we have de- 
scriberl than under the ordinary regime. The 
perpetual ill-behavior of many fliildien is it- 
self the consequenceof that chronic irritation 
in which they arc kept by bad management. 
The state of isolation and antagonism pro- 
duced by frequent punishment necessarily 
deadens the sympathies ; necessarily, there- 
fore, opens the way to those transgressions 
which the sympathies should check. That 
harsh treatment which children of the same 
family inflict on each other is often, in great 
measuie, a reflex of the harsh treatment they 
receive from adults — partly suggested by di- 
rect example, and partly generated by the 
ill-temper and the tendency to vicarious re- 
taliation which follow chastisements and 
scoldings. It cannot be questioned that the 
greater activity of the affections and happier 
state of feeling, maintained in children by 
the discipline we have desciibed, must pre- 
vent their sins against each other from being 
either so great or so frequent. Moreover, 
the still more reprehensible offences, as lies 
and petty thefts, will, by the same causes, be 
diminished. Domestic estrangement is a 
fruitful source of such transgressions. It is 
a law of human nature, visible enough to all 
who observe, that those who are debarred 
the higher gratifications fall back upon the 
lower ; those who have no sympathetic pleas^ 
ures seek selfish ones ; and hence, converse- 
ly, the maintenance of happier relations be- 
tween parents and children is calcidated to 
diminish the number of those offences of 
which selfisliness is the origin. 

When, however, such offences are commit- 
ted, as they will occasionally be. even under 
the best system, the discipline of conse- 
quences may still be resorted to ; and if there 
exist that bond of confidence and affection 
which we have described, this discipline will 
be found eflScient. For what are the natural 
consequences, say, of a theft ? They are of 
two kinds — direct and indirect. The direct 
consequence, as dictated by pure equity, is 
that of making restitution. An absolutely 
just ruler (and every parent should aim to be 
one) will demand that, wherever it is possi- 
ble, a wrong act shall be imdone bj' a right 
one ; and in the case of theft this implies 
either the restoration of the thing stolen, or, 
if it is consumed, then the giving of an 
equivalent ; which, in the case of a child, 
may be effected out of its pocket-money. 
The indirect and more serious consequence 
is the grave displeasure of pare nts — a conse- 
quence which inevitably follows anumg all 
peoples sutliciently civilized to regard theft 
as a crime ; and the manifestation of this dis- 
pleasure is, in this instance, the most severe 
of the natural reactions produced by the 
wrong action. " But," it will be said, " the 
manifestation of parental displeasure, either 
in words or blows, is the ordinary course in 
these cases : the method leads here to noth- 
ing new. ' ' Very true. Already we have ad- 
mitted that, in some directions, this method 
is spontaneous!}' pursued. Already we have 
shown that there is a more or less manifest 



EDUCATION: INTELLECTUAL. :JIORAL, A:>'D PHYSICAL. 



801 



tendency for cducationa! systems to gravitate 
lov.'rtrd the true system. And nert; we may 
icraark, as Itofore, that tho intensity of this 
natural reaclion vrill, in llie bcucficeut order 
of tilings, adjust itself to the requireinents — 
llmt tins [)aMilal displeasure will vent itself 
in violent ni(;asuieb durint; comparatively 
barbarous times, when the children are also 
coniparalively barbarous, and will express 
itsoU' less criielly in those more adv^anced so- 
cial slates in which, by implicatiou, (he chil- 
dren are imi'/nable tomildei treatment. But 
■what it cliully conceins us here to observe 
is, that the nianifestalion of strong parental 
displeasure, produced by one of these graver 
offences, will be potent for good jusi in pro- 
portion to the warmlh of the attachment ex- 
isting l)etweeu parent and child. Just m 
proportion a,s the discipline of the natural 
consequences has Ijeen consistently pursued 
in other cases, will it be efficient in this case. 
Proof is within the experience of all, if they 
will look for it. 

Fordoes not ei'ery man know that when 
he has offended another peryon, the amount 
of genuine regiut he feels (of course, leaving 
worldly considerations out of the question) 
varies witli the degree of s.ympathy he has 
for that peison? is he not consei'jus (hat 
when tho person offended stands to him in 
the position of an enemy, the having given 
him annoyance is apt to be a source rather 
of secret satisfaction than of sorrow ? Docs 
he noi remember that, where umbrage hna 
been taken by si)me total stranger, he lias 
felt much less concern ihan he would h.ivo 
done had such uml)rage been taken by o;ic 
T/ith whom he was intimate? "While, con- 
versely, has not the auger of an admired and 
cherished friend been regarded by him as a 
serious m'fsforlune, long and ktjenly rcgi fit- 
ted ? C'leaily, then, the effects of' parental 
displeasure ui(on chddren must similarly de- 
pend upen the pre-existing relationship. 
vVhere there is an establistie 1 alienation, 
tiic feeling of a cliild who has transgressed is 
u purely seliish fear of the evil consequences 
likely to fall upon it in the shape of physical 
penalties or deprivations ; and after these 
evil consi!qnences have been inflicted, there 
are aroused an antagonism and dislike which 
are morally injurious, an;l t( nd further to in- 
crease the alienation. On the contrary, 
v/here there exists a warm filial affection pro- 
duced by a consistent parenltd friendship — a 
fiiendshrp not doginalicallj'' asserted as an 
excuse for punishments and di^nials, but 
daily exhibited in ways that a child can com- 
prehend — a Iriendship which avoids needless 
Ihwaitmgs, which warns against impending 
evil coubequeuces, and which sympalhiz'S 
with juvenile puisuits — there the st:>te of 
mind caused by parental displeasure will not 
only be salutary as a check to future miscon- 
duct of like kind, tiut will also be ia- 
tiinsically salutary. The moral pain conse- 
quent upon having, for the time being, lost 
so loved a friend, will stand in place of the 
physical pain Ubually inliictcd ; and where 
tJiis attachment exists, will prove equally if 



not more efficient. While instead of the 
fear and viudictiveness excited by tiie one 
course, there will be excited by "the other 
more or less of sympathy with parental sor- 
row, a genuine regiet, for having caused it, 
and a desire, by soniealonemeut, to re-cstab 
lish llie habitual friendly relationship. In 
stead of liringing into play those purely eg-^- 
istic feeling,-, whose predominance is the 
cause of ciiminal acts, there will i)e brou;.^ht 
into play those altruistic feelings whIcJi 
check criminal acts. Thus the discipline of 
the natural consequences is applicable to 
grave as well as trivial faults ; and the prac- 
tice of It conduces not smiply to the repies- 
sion, but to the eradication of such faults.. 

In brief, the truth is that savageness licgets 
savageness, and gentleness begets gentleness, 
("hlldren who are unsympniheticaliy feale 1 
become relativel.y un.syinpathetie ; whereas 
treating them with due lellow-ftCiing is a 
mi-aus of cultivating tlieir fellow-feeling. 
With family goveinmeuts as witli political 
ones, a liarsli despotism itself generates a 
great part of the crimes it has to repress ; 
while conversely a mild and liberal rule not 
(mly avoids nnmy c;uiscs of dissension, but 
so a.neliorateslhetoneof feeling as to dimin- 
ish the tendency to tiansgression. As John 
Locke l.mg since rem.iiked, " Great severity 
of punishment does but very Utile good, nay, 
great haini, in education; and I believe it 
will Iki fotuid ViiAl, C(eleri-'<]hiri>ji(n, those chil- 
dren wh ) iiave been mi;sl chastised seldom 
maKc th," iu'st men." In cnniirmation of 
Vi^hich opinion we may cile tiie fact not long 
since male public by Mr. lli>giMs, Ciiaolaiu 
of the Pentonville Piisun. that those Juve- 
nile criminals who have been whipped are 
those who most fie(iuently retnrn to piiscn. 
On the other hand, as exhiSiling the bene- 
ficial effects of H kinder tn.alment, we will 
instance the fact stated to us by a Fn'och 
lady, in who.se house we recently stayed in 
Pari.s. Apologizing fnrtiici'.isturbanee daily 
caused by a little boy wh'^ was unmanage- 
able both at home and at school. Bhe ex- 
pressed her fear that there was no remedy 
save that which had succeeded in the case of 
an elder brother — namely, sending him to «a 
English school. She explained that at vaii- 
ous schools in Paris this elder brother hat 
proved utteily untractable ; that in despa.r 
they had followel the advice to send him t > 
England; and that on his rrtntn home :ii.! 
wa.s as goorl as he liad before been bad. 
And this remarkable change she ascribed ♦.en- 
tirely to the comparative r.uidness of thc:Eag- 
lish discipline. 

After this cxp.isition of principles, our re- 
maining spat^e may best be occupied by a few 
of the chief maxima and lulcsdeducible from 
them; and with a view to bicvity we will 
put these in a more or less lu<riat;rv form. 

Do not expect from a child any great 
amount of moral gi)odne'.ss. Duiing early 
years every civiliz.-d man passes through 
that phase of charactei* exhibited by the bar- 
barous I ace from whicli he is descended. 
As the chiUrs icjtures — ilut nose, forward 



303 



EDUCATION: INTELLECTUAL, MORAL. AND PHYSICAL. 



opfnIniT nostrils, large lips, wide-apart eyes, 
absoDt froiitiilsiuus, etc. — resemble for a time 
tlnne uf tlie savage, so. too, do Lis instmcts. 
IL^iice the tendeni ies to cruelty, to thieving, 
to lying, so general among children — tenden- 
cies vvuich, even without' the aid of disci- 
]ilin'», will l)ecome more or less modified just 
as the features do. The popular idea that 
children are " innocent," while it may be 
true m so far as it refers to evil knowledge, is 
totally false in so far as it refers to evil im- 
jniLics, as half an hour's observation m the 
nursery will prove to any one. Boys wheu 
left to themselves, as at a public school, treat 
each other far more brutally than men do ; 
and were they left to (hemselvcsat an earlier 
age their brutality would be still more con- 
spicuous. 

Not only is it unwise to set up a high 
standard for juvenile good conduct, but it is 
even unwise to use very urgent incitements 
to such good conduct. Already most people 
recognize the detrimental results of intellect- 
ual precocity ; but there remains to be recog- 
nized the truth that there is a moral precocity 
which is also detrimental. Our higher moral 
faculties, like our higher intellectual ones, 
are comparatively complex. By conse- 
quence they are both comparatively late in 
their evolution. And with the one as with 
the other, a very early activity produced by 
stimulation will be at the expense of the 
future character. Hence the not unct)mmon 
fact that those who during childhood were 
instanced as models of juvenile goodness by 
and bj'' undergo some disastrnus and seem- 
ingly inexplicable change, and end by being 
not above but below par ; while relatively 
exemplary men are often the issue of a child- 
hood by no means so promising. 

Be content, therefore, with moderate meas- 
ures and moderate results. Constantly bear 
in mind the fact that a higher morality, like 
a higher intelligence, must be reached by a 
slow grovrth, and you will then have more 
patience with those imperfections of nature 
which your child hourly displays. You will 
be less prone to that constant scolding, and 
threatening, and forbidding, b}' which many 
parents induce a chronic domestic irritation, 
in the foolish hope that they will thus make 
their chiLircn what they should be. 

This comparatively liberal form of domes- 
tic government, which does not seek despot- 
ically to regulate all the details of a child s 
conduct, necessarily results from the sys- 
tem for which wt; have been conlendiug. 
Satisfy yourself with seeing thcit yoiu- chird 
always suffers the natural consequences of 
his actions, and you will avoid that excess of 
control in which so many parents err. Leave 
him Tvherever you can to the discipline of 
experience, and you will so save him from 
that hothouse virtue which over-regulation 
produces in yielding natures, or that de- 
moralizing antagonism which it produces in 
independent ones. 

By aiming in all cases to administer the 
natural reactions to your child's actions, you 
wilt put an advantageous check upon your 



own temper. The method of moral educa- 
tion pursued by many, we fear by most, par- 
ents, is lillle else than that of venting their 
anger in the way that fiist suggests itself. 
The slaps, and rough shakings, and sharp 
woids. with which a mother commonly visits 
her utTspiing's smidl olfences (many of them 
not offences considered intrinsically), are 
^ eiy geneiaily but the manifestations of her 
own i'1-conttolled feelings — result much more 
from the promptings of those feelings thaa 
from a wish to benefit the offenders. While 
they are injuiious to her own character, 
these ebuliitions U-tul, by alienating her chil- 
dren and by decreasing their resj^cct for her, 
to diminish her intluence over them. But 
by pausing in each case of transgression to 
consider what is the nuiuial consequence, 
and how that natural consequence may best 
be brought home to the transgressor, some 
little time is necessarily obtained for the 
mastery of yourself ; the mere blind anger 
fiirst aroused in you settles down into a less 
vehement feeling, and one not so likely to 
mislead you. 

Do not, however, seek to behave as an 
utterly passionless instrument. Remember 
that besides the natural consequences of your 
child's conduct which the working of things 
tends to bring round on him, your own ap- 
probation or disapprobation is also a natuial 
consequence, and one of the ordained agen- 
cies for guiding him. The error which 
ws have been combating is that of fuh 
stihiting parental displeasure and its ai ti- 
ficial penalties for the penalties which na- 
ture has established. But while it should 
not be subsiUated for these natural penalties, 
it by no means follows that it should not, iu 
some form, accompdiiy them. The secondary 
kind of punishment should not usurp the 
place of the prma?'^ kind; but, in modera- 
tion, it may rightly supplement the jjrimary 
kind. Such amount of disapproval, or sor- 
row, or indignation, as you feel, should be 
expressed in words or manner or otherwise ; 
subject, of coui'se, to the approval of your 
judgment. The degree and kind of fi-elin^ 
produced in you will necessarily depeud 
upon your own character, ami it is therefore 
useless to say it should be ihis or that. Ail 
that can be recommended is, that you should 
aim to modify the feeling into thai, whiih 
j'ou believe otiglit to l)e euterlaincd. Be- 
ware, however, of the two extremes, not 
only in respect of the intensity, but in le- 
spect of the duration of your displeasure 
On the one hand, anxious!} avoid that weak 
impulsiveness, so general among mothers, 
which se(jlds and forgives almost in the same 
breath. On the other hand, do not unduly 
continue to show estrangement of feeling, le;?t 
you accustom your child to do without your 
friendship, and so lose your influence over 
him. The moral reactions called forth from 
you by your child's actions, you shouldas 
much as possible assimilate la those which 
you conceive would be called forth from a 
parent of perfect nature. 

Be sparing o f commands. Command only 



EDUCATION: INTELLECTUAL, MORAL, AND PHYSICAL. 



803 



ia Tao3€ cases in which other means are Inap- 
plicubie. or have failed. " In frequt'nt, orders 
tha parents" advitntage is more considered 
than the child's," says Riclitcr. As iu prim- 
itive societies a breacli of law is punished, 
not so mucli because U is intrinsically 
Vi'nni^ as because il is a disregard of the 
kiu^^-'s authority — a rebellion against h'un. ; 
so, in many families, the penalty visited on a 
transgressor proceeds less from reprobation 
of tJie offence than from angi^r at the diso- 
bedience. Listen to the ordinary speeches — 
" How dare you disobey me?" " I tell you 
I'll ?7ja/i:« you do it, sir." "I'll soon teach 
you who is waste?'" — and then consider what 
the words, the tone, and tiie manner imply. 
A determination to subjugate is much more 
conspicuous in them tlian an anxiety for the 
child's welfare. For the time being the at- 
titude of mind differs but little from thai of 
tue despot bent on punishing a recalcitrant 
subject. The right-feeling parent, however, 
like the philanthropic legislator, will not re- 
joice in coercion, but will rejoice in dispens- 
ing with coercion. He will do without law 
in all cases where otlier modes of regulating 
conduct can be successfully employed ; and 
he will regret the having recourse to law 
when it is necessary. As Richler remarks, 
" The best rule in politics is said to be ' jxis 
trap gouverner ; ' it is also true in education." 
And in spontaneous conformity with this 
maxim, parents whose lust of dominion is re- 
strained by a true sense of duty will aim 
io make their children control them^jelves 
■wherever it is possible, and will fall back 
upon absolutism only as a last resort. 

But whenever you dr) command, command 
■with decision and consistency. If the case is 
one which really cannot be otherwise dealt 
"with, then issue your fiat, and having issued 
it, never afterward sv/erve from it. Con- 
sider well beforehand what you are going to 
do ; weigh all the cousequeuces, tijink 
whether your lirmness of purpose will be 
sufficient, and tiien, if you fiu-dly make Ihe 
law, enforce it uniformly at v/hatever cost. 
Let your penalties be like the penalties in- 
flicted by inanimate nature — inevilal)le. 
The hot cinder burns a child the first time he 
eeizes it ; it burns him the s'jcond time ; it 
buTus him the third time ; it burns him 
every time ; and he s''ery soon learns not to 
touch the hot cinder. If you are equally 
consistent — if the consequences which you 
tell your child will follow certain acts, fol- 
low with like uniformity, he will soou come 
to resp(;ct your laws as he does those of na- 
ture. And this resi)ect once established will 
prevent endless domestic evils. Of eriors in 
education one of the worst is that of incon- 
sistency. As iu a community, crimes multi- 
ply when there is no certain administration 
of justice, so in a family, an immense in- 
crease of transgressions results from a hesi- 
tating or irregular infliction of penalties. A 
•weak mother, who perpetually threatens an>i 
rarely performs — who makes rules in hasi« 
and repents of them at leisure — who 1 rents 
the same offence now with sevcrit^y and now 



with leuieiicy, according as the passing tu- 
mor dictatea, is laying up miseries both for 
herself and her children, tihe is m.aking 
herself contemptible in their eyes ; she is 
setting them an example of uncontroiled feel- 
ings ; she is encouraging tlieui to transgress 
by the prospect of probable impunity ; she 
is entailing endless squabbles and accompany- 
ing damage to her own temper and the tern 
pers of her little ones ; she is reducing tlieii- 
minds to a moral chaos, which aftfr-years of 
bitter experience will with dithcully bring 
into order. Better even abarl)arous form of 
domestiD government carriid<iut consistently 
than a humane one in(!onwisienl 1 y carried out. 
Again wesay, avoid coeicivemea;.-;uies when- 
ever it is possible to do so ; but when you 
tind despotism really nectssaiy, be despotic 
in good earnest. 

Bear constantly in mind the truth that the 
aim of your discipline siiould be to produce 
a self-governing bein^, not to produce a be- 
ing to be governed by others. Were your chil- 
dren fated to pass their lives as slaves, you 
could not too much accustom them to slavery 
during their childhood ; but as they are by 
and by to be free men, with no one to con- 
trol their daily conduct, yen cannot too 
much accustom them to self-control while 
they are still under your eye. This it is 
which makes the system of discipline by nat- 
ural consequences so especially appropriate 
to the social state which we in Euglanri have 
now reached. Lender early tyrannical forms 
of society, when one of the chief evils the cit- 
izen had to fear was the anger of his supe- 
riors, it was well that during childhood pa- 
rental vengeance should be a predominant 
means of government. But now that the 
citizen has little to fear from any one — now 
that the good or evil which he experi- 
ences throughout life is mainly that which 
in the nature of things results from his 
own conduct, it is desirable that from his 
first years he should begin to learn, cxpeii 
mentally, the gnod or evil consequences 
which naturally follow this or that conduct. 
Aim. therefore, to diminish the amount of 
parental government as fast as you can sub- 
stitute for it in your child's mind that self- 
government arising from a foresight of re- 
sults. In infancy a considerable amount of 
absolutism is necessary. A three-year-old 
urchin playing with an open razor cannot 
be allowed to learn by this discipline of con 
se(|ueuce3 ; for the consequences may, in 
sucii a case, be too serious. But as intelli- 
gence increases, the number of instances 
calling for peremptory interference may be, 
and sliould be, diminished, with the view 
of gradually ending (hem as maturity is ap- 
proached. All periods of tiansition are dan- 
gerous ; and the most dangerous is the tiausi- 
tionfrom the restraint of the ftimily circle to 
the non-restraint of thewoild. Htucetheim- 
po'tanceof pursuing the policy we advocate, 
which, alike by cultivating a cinld's faculty 
of self restriiint, by continually increasing 
the degree in which it is left to its self-con- 
straint, and by so bringing it, step by uLep, 



S04 



EDUCATION: INTELLECTUAL. MORAL, AND PHYSICAL. 



to a stnte of unaided self-restraint, obliterates 
tlie ordinary sudden and hazardous change 
from externally-governed youth to internally- 
governed maturity. Let the history of your 
domestic rule t}'-pify, in little, the histoiy of 
our political rule : at the outset, autocratic 
control, where control is really needful ; by 
and by an incipient constitutionalism, in 
which the liberty of the subject gains some 
express recognition ; successive extensions of 
this liberty of the subject, gradually ending 
in parental abdication. 

Do not regret the exhibition of consider- 
able self-will on the part of your children. 
It is the correlative of that diminished 
coerciveness so conspicuous in modern edu- 
cation. The greater tendency to assert free- 
dom of action on the one side corresponds 
to the smaller tendency to tyrannize on the 
other. They both indicate an approach to 
the system of discipline we contend for, un- 
der which children will be more and more 
led to rule themselves by the experience of 
natural consequences ; and they are both the 
accompaniments of our more advanced social 
state. The independent English boy is the 
father of the independent English man ; and 
you cannot have the last without the first. 
German teachers say that they had rather 
jnanage a dozen German boys than one Eng- 
lish one. Shall we, therefore, wish that our 
•boys had the mauageablencss of the German 
ones, and with it the submissiveness and po- 
litical serfdom of adult Germans ? Or shall 
we not rather tolerate in our boys those feel- 
jflgs which make them freemen, and modify 
our methods accordingly ? 

Lastly, always remember that to educate 
•Kghtly is not a simple and easy thing, but a 
complex and extremely difhcult thing — the 
hardest task which devolves upon adult life. 
The rough and ready style of domestic gov- 
ernment is indeed practicable by the meanest 
JUid most uncultivated intellects. Slaps and 
sharp words are penalties that suggest them- 
selves alike to the least reclaimed barbarian 
and the most stolid peasant. Even brutes 
can use this method of discipline ; as you 
may see in the growl and half bite with 
which a bitch will check a too-exigej»nt 
fuppy. But if ycu W(.uld cany out'with 
success a rational and civiliztd sy.>-tcm, you 
rcuit be piepared for considerable mental 
ifxeition — for stme study, some incenuity, 
>i me patience, -ume stlt-cnntiol. "i'ou will 
liave habitually to tiace the consequences of 
i'ounuct — to consider what are the results 
'x^hich in adult life follow certain kind of 
jicts ; and then you will have to devise 
inietbods by which parallel results shall be 
.entailed on the paraDel acts of your children. 
You will daily be called upon to analyze the 
motives of juvenile conduct; you must dis- 
tinguish bilwecn acts that are really good 
and Ihot^e which, though externally sir.Jla- 
ting thtm. I r( c( ed I'rc m inferior impojlses ; 
whde ^cu must be ever on j^our guard 
against the cruel mistake not luifrequently 
made, of translating mulral acts into tians- ' 
greesions, or asciibiug worte fctlings than 



were entertained. You must more or lees 
modify your method to suit fhfs disposition 
of each child, and must be prepared to make 
further modifications as each child's disposi- 
tion enters on anew phase. Your faith will 
often be taxed to maintain the requihite per- 
severance in a course which seems to pro- 
duce little or no effect. Especially if you 
are dealing with children who have been 
■wrongly treated, ycu must be prepared for 
a lengthened trial of patience before succeed- 
ing with better methods ; seeing that that 
which is not easj'^ even where a right state of 
feeling has been established frr^m the begin- 
ning becomes doubly difficidt when a wrong 
state of feeling has to be set right. Not only 
will you have constantly to analyze the 
motives of your children, but you will have to 
analyze your own motives — to discriminate 
between those internal suggestions spring- 
ing from a true parental solicitude, and those 
which spring from your own selfishnefs, 
frc-m your love of ease, from your lust of 
dominion. And then, more trying still, you 
will Lave not only to detect but to curb these 
baser impulses. In brief, you will have to 
carry on your higher education at the same 
lime that you are educating your children. 
Intellectually you must cultivate to good pur- 
pose that most complex of subjects — human 
nature and its laws, as exhibited in your 
children, in yourself, and in the world. 
Morally you must keep in constant exeicise 
your higher feelings and restrain your lower. 
It is a truth yet remaining to be recognized, 
that the last stage in the mental development 
of each man and woman is to be reached 
only through the proper discharge of the 
parental duties. And when thistiuth is rec- 
ognized, it will be seen how admirable is 
the ordination in virtue of which human 
beings are led by their strongest affections to 
subject themselves to a discipline which they 
would else elude.. 

While some will probably regard this con- 
ception of education as it should be, with 
doubt and discouragement, others will, we 
think, perceive i^ tbe exalted ideal which it 
involves evidence of its truth. That it can- 
not be realized t)y the impulsive, the unsym- 
pathetic, and the shoit-siuhted, but demands 
the higher attributes of human nature, they 
will see to be evidence of its fitness for the 
more advanced states of humanity. Though 
it calls for much labor and self-sacritice, they 
will see that it promises an abundant return 
of happiness, immediate and remote. They 
will see that while in its injurious effects ou 
both parent and child a bad system is twice 
cursed, a good system is twice blessed — it 
blesses him that trains and him that's trained. 

It will be seen that we have said nothing 
in this cliapter about the transcendental dis- 
tinction between rigtit and wrong, of which 
wise men know so little, and children 
notliing. All t'.iinkers aie agreed that we 
may lind the crilerion of right in the effect 
of actions if we do not find the rule tliere ; 
and that is sufficient for the purp o.se we have 
had in view. Nor have we introduced the 



EDUCATION: mTELLECTUAL, MORAL, AND PHYSICAL. 



305 



religious element. We have confined our 
inquiries to a nearer, and a much more neg- 
lected field, though a very important one. 
Our readers may supplement our thoughts in 
nny way they please ; we are only concerned 
that they should be accepted as far as they 
go- 

CHAPTER IV. 

PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 

Equally at the squire's table after the 
wlttidrawal of the ladies, at the farmers' 
market ordinary, and at the village alehouse, 
the topic which, after the poiiti<'al question 
of the day, excites perhaps the most general 
interest is the management of auimils 
Riding home from hunting, the conversa- 
tion is pretty sure to gravitate toward horse- 
breeding, and pedigrees, and comments on 
tills or that " good point ;" while a day on 
the moors is very unlikely to pass without 
something being said on the treatment of 
dogs. When crossing the fields together 
from church, the tenants of adjacent farms 
are apt to pass from criticisms on the sermon 
to criticisms on the weather, the crops, and 
the stock ; and thence to slide into discus- 
sions on the various kinds of fodder and theii 
feeding qualities. Hodge and Giles, after 
comparing notes over their respective pig- 
Btyes, show by their remarks that they have 
been more or less observant of their masters' 
beasts and sheep, and of the effects produced 
on them by this or that kind of treatment. 
Nor is it only among the rural populallon 
that the regulations of the kennel, the stable, 
the cow-shed, and the sheep-peu, are favor- 
ite subjects. In towns, too, the numerous 
artisans who keep dogs, the young men wlio 
are rich enough to now and then indulge 
their sporting tendencies, and their more 
staid seniors who talk over agricultural prog- 
ress or read Mr. Mechi's annual reports an I 
Mr. Calid's letters to the Tiinen, fojm, when 
added together, a large portion of the inhal)- 
itants. Take the adult males tiiroug'iout 
the kingdom, and a great majority will be 
found to show some interest in the breeding, 
rearing, or training of animals of one kind 
or other. 

But during after-dinner conversations, or 
at other times of like intei course, who hears 
anything said about the rearing of children ? 
When the country gentleman has paid his 
daily visit to the stable, and personally in- 
spected the condition and treatment of his 
horses; when he has glanced at his minor 
live-stock, and given directions about them, 
bow often does he go up to the nursery and 
examine into its dietary, its hours, its ven- 
tilation ? On his library shelves may be 
found White's " Farriery," Stephen's "Book 
of the Farm," Nimrodon the " Condition of 
Hunters," and with the contents of these he 
is more or less familiar ; but how many 
books has he read on the management of in- 
fancy and childhood ? The fattening prop- 
erties of oilcake, the relative values of hay 
and chopped straw the dangers of ualiiuited 



clover, are points on which every landlord, 
farmer, and peasant has some knowledge ; 
but what proportion of them know much 
about the qualities of the food they give their 
children, and its fitness to the constitutional 
needs of growing boys and girls V Perhaps 
the business interests'of these classes will be 
assigned as accounting for this anomaly. 
The explanation is inade(iuate, however, 
Sfteing ihat the same contrast holds more or 
less ain:ing other classes. Of a score of 
townspeople few, if any, would prove igno- 
rant of I he fact that it is undesirable to work 
a horse soon after it has eaten ; and yet, of 
this same score, supposing them all to be 
fathers, piobably nut one" would be found 
who had considered whether the time elups- 
ing between his children's dinner and their 
resumption of lessons was sutficieut. In- 
deed, on cross-examination, marly every 
man would disclose tlie latent opinion that 
the regimen of the nursery was no concern 
of his. " Oh. I leave all those things to the 
women, " would probably be the reply. And 
in most cases the tone and manner of this 
reply would cc nvey the implication that euch 
cares are not consistent with masculine dig- 
nity. 

Consider the fact from any but the con- 
ventional point of view, and it will seem 
strange that while the raising of tirst rate bul- 
locks is an occupation on which men of edu- 
cation willingly bestow much lime, inquiiy, 
and thought, tlie bringing up of fine human 
beings is an occupation tacitly voted un- 
woithy of their attention. jNlammas vrho 
have been taught little but languages, music, 
and accomplishments, ai led by nurses full 
of antiquated prejudices, are held competent 
regulators of the food, ciothing, i\u6. exercise 
of ciiildren. Meanwhile the fathers read 
hooks and periodicals, attend ngiicultuial 
meetings, try experiments, and engage in 
discussions, all with the view of discovering 
how to fatten prize pigs ! Infinite pains 
will 1)3 taken to produce a racer that shall 
win the Derby, none to jjruduce a modern 
athlete. Had Gulliver narrated of the Lapu- 
taus that the men vied with each other ia 
learning how best to lear the offspring (.f 
other ciealures, and were careless of learn- 
ing how best to rear their own offspiing, he 
would have paralleled any of the other ab- 
surdities he ascribes to them. 

The matter is a serious one, however. 
Ludicrous as is the antithesis, the fact it ex- 
presses is not less disastrous. As remarks a 
suggestive writer, the first requisite to suc- 
cess in life is " to be a good animal;" and to 
be a nation of good animals is the first con- 
dition to national prosperity. Not only is it 
that the event of a war often turns on the 
strength and hardiness of soldiers ; but it is 
that the contests of commerce are in part de- 
termined by the bodily endurance of pro- 
ducers. Thus far we have found no reason to 
fear trials of strength with other races in 
either of these fields. But there are not 
wanting signs that our powers will presently 
lie taxed to the uttermost. Already, under 



806 



EDUCATION: INTELLECTUAL, MORAL, AND PHYSICAL. 



the keen competition of modern life, the ap- 
plication required of almost every one is such 
as few can bear without more or less injury. 
Already tliousands break down under the 
higli pressure they are subject In. If this 
pre.ssuic continues to increase, as it seems 
likely io do. it will tiy severely all but the 
8()(indest constitutions. Hence it is becom- 
ing r)i' especial importance tliat the training 
of chihlicn sliouid be so carried on as not 
only to til them mentally for the struggle be- 
fore them, but also to make them ph^bically 
fii, to iK'ar ils excessive wear and tear. 

Happily ihe matter is beginning to attract 
a'lentiou. Tiie writings of Mr. Kingsley 
iiiiiicaie a reaetinu against over-culture ; 
carried, as reaclions usually are, somewhat 
loo far. Occasional letters and leaders in 
the newspapers have shown an awakening 
interes't in ph)sical training. And the for- 
mation of a school, significantly nicknamed 
that of "muscular Christianity," implies a 
growing opinion that our present methods 
of bringing up children do not suliiciently 
regarU the welfare of the body. The topic 
is evidentlj'^ ripe for discussion. 

To conform the regimen of the nursery 
and the school to the ettablisht d truths of 
modem s(dence — this is the di sidcratum. It 
is time that the benefits which oiu sheep and 
oxen have for years past derived from the 
investigations of the laboratory should be 
participated in by our childien. Without 
calling in qucslion tbeguat importance of 
lioise-lraining and pig-feeding, we would 
suggest that, as the rearing of well-grown 
men and women is also of some moment, 
liie conclusions indicaled by theory and in- 
dorsed by practice ought to be acted on in 
the last case as in the first. Probably not a 
few will be startled, perhaps offended, by 
thi--* collocation of ideas. But it is a fact not 
to be disputed, and to which we had best rec 
oncile ourselves, that man is subject to the 
eame oiganic laws as inferior creatures. No 
anatonu^t, no physiologist, no chemist, will 
for a moment hesilale io assert that the gen- 
eral principles wliich rule over the vital pro- 
cesses in animals equally rule over the vital 
processes in man. And a candid admissioH 
of this fad is not wilhonl its leward — name- 
ly, that the truths established by observation 
and expeiiment on biutes become more or 
less available for human guidance. liudi- 
nientary as is the science of life, it has al- 
ifady attained to ceitain fundamental prin- 
cipies iiiideilying the deveh^pment of all 
oiganisnis, Ihe human includtd. That which 
has now lo be done, and that vvhich we shall 
tndtavor in btine measure to do, is to show 
the bearing of lliese fundamtntai principles 
upon the physical tiaining of childhood and 
youlh. 

The rh.ythmical tendency which is trace- 
able in fill d(partnici;ts of "sccial life — which 
is ilhistraled in the access of despotism after 
revolution, or, among ourselves, in tli<; alter 
naticn of ;efo)niing epochs and conservative 
epoclih— which, after a dissolute age, biings 
an age of asceticism, and conversely, which 



in commerce produces the regularly recur 
ring inflations and panics — which «arries the 
devotees of fnshion fiom one absurd extreme 
to the opposite one — this rhythmical ten- 
dency affects also our table-habits, and by im- 
plication th(- (!i( taiy of the young. After a 
period distiu^oishfd by hard drinking and 
hard eating has c<,nie a peiiod of compara- 
tive sobriety, which, in loctotalism and vege- 
tarianism, exhibits extieiue forms of its pro- 
test against the liotous living of Ihe patt. 
And along with this change m the regimen 
of adults has come a parallel change in the 
regimen for boys and gnls. In past genera- 
tions the belief was that Ihe more a child 
could be induced to eat the better ; and even 
now, among fanners and in riniote districts, 
where traditional ideas mo;-t linger, j arents 
may be found who tempt their children to 
gorge themselves. But among the educated 
classes, who chiefly display this reaction tow- 
ard abstemiousness, theie may be seen a 
decided leaning to the underferding rather 
than the overfeeding of children. Indeed 
their disgust for bygone animalism is more 
clearly shown in the tieatment of their off- 
spring than in the treatment of themselves ; 
seeing that while their disguised asteticism 
is, in so far as their personal conduct is con- 
cerned, kepi in check by their uppetiles. it 
has full play in legislating for juveniles. 

That overfeeding and underfeeding are 
both bad is a truism. Of Ihe two, however, 
the last is the worst. As writes a high au- 
thority, " the effects of casual repletion aie 
less prejudicial, and more easily corrected, 
than those of inanition." Add to which, 
that where there has been no injudicious in- 
terference, repletion will seldom occur. 
" Excess is the vice rather of adults than of 
the young, who are rarely either gourmandf 
or epicures, unless through the fault of those 
•who rear them." This system of restric- 
tion, which many parents think so necessary, 
Ib based upon very inadequate observation 
and very erroneous reasoning. There is ati 
over-legislation in the nursery as well as an 
over-legislation in the stale, and one of the 
most injurious forms of it is this iimitalion 
in the quantity of food. 

" But are children to be allowed to surfeit 
themselves? Shall they be suffered to take 
their fill of dainties and make themselves ill. 
as they certainly will do V" As thus put, the 
question admits of but one reply. But as 
thus put, it assumes the point at issue. We 
contend that, as appetite is a good guide to 
all the lower creation — as it is a good guide to 
the infant — as it is a good guide to the inva- 
lid — as it is a good guide to the differently- 
placed races of men, and as it is a good guide 
for every adult who leads a healthful life, it 
may safely be inferred that it is a good guide 
for childhood. It would be strange indeed 
were it here alone untrustworthy. 

Probably not a few will read this reply 
with some impatience ; being able, as they 
think, to cite facts totally at variance with it. 
It will appear absurd if we deny the rele- 
vancy of these facts ; and ^ct the paradox is 



EDUCATION: INTELLECTUAL MORAL. AND PHYSICAL. 



307 



quite defensible. The truth is, tliai, fhc in- 
stances of excess which such persons Imve 
in mind are usually the coiiHcquciuxs of the 
restrictive s^'slem they seem to justify. They 
are the sensual reactions caused by a more 
or less ascetic regimen. TIk'}^ illustrate on a 
^mail scale that coiumonlj'-remarlced fact, 
;hat those who during youth have been sub- 
ject to the most rigorous discipline, are apt 
afterward to rush into the wildest extrava- 
gances. They aie analogous to those fright- 
ful phenomena, once not uncommon in oon- 
Tents, wliere nuns suddenly Inpsed frnm the 
^•xtremest austerities into an almost demonaic 
wickedness. They simply exhibit the im- 
controliable vehemence of a long-denied de- 
sire. Consider the ordinary tastes and the 
ordinary treatment of ciiildren. The love of 
sweets is conspicuous and almost universal 
among them. Probably uinet'y-nine people 
in a hundred presume that there is nothing 
more in this than gratification of the palate, 
and that, in common with other sensual de- 
sires, it should be discouraged. Tiie physi- 
ologist, liowever, whose discoveries lead him 
to an ever-incrcasuig reverence for the ar- 
rangements of things, will suspect that there 
is something more in this love of sv/eets than 
the current hypothesis supposes, and a little 
inquiry coul5rms tlie suspicion. Any work 
on organic chemistry shows that sugar plays 
an important pait in the vital processes. 
Both saccharine and fatty matters are event- 
ually oxidized in tlie body, and there is an 
accompanying evolution of heat. fc?ugar is 
the form to which sundry other compounds 
have to be reduced before they are available 
as heat-making food ; and this farmation of 
sugar is carried on in the body. Not oul}' is 
starch changed into sugar in the course of 
digestion, but it has bten proved by M. 
Claude Bernard that the liver is a factory in 
which other constituents of f(Jod are trans- 
formed into sugar. Now, when to the fact 
that children have a marked desire for this 
valuable heat-food, we join the fact that they 
have usually a marked dislike to that food 
which gives out the greatest amount of heal 
during its oxidation (namely, fat), we shall 
see strong reason for thinking that excess of 
the one compensates tor defect of the othet 
— that the organism demands more sugar be 
cause it cannot deal with much fat. Again, 
children are usually very fond of vegetal)le 
acids. Fruits of all kinds are their delight ; 
and, in the absence of ani'thing better, they 
will devour unrine gooseberries and the 
sourest of crabs. Now, not only are vige- 
table acids, in common with mineral ones, 
very good tonics, and beneficial as such when 
taken in moderation, but the}' have, when 
administered in their natural forms, other 
advantages. " Ripe fruit," says Dr. Andrew 
Combe, " is mure freely given on the Conti- 
nent than in this couutr^^ ; and particularly 
when the b)wels act imperfectly it is often 
very useful." See, then, (he discord be- 
tween the instinctive wants of childien and 
their habitual treatment. Ilc.e are two 
dominant desires, which there is good roa- 



Bou to believe express certain needs of the 
juvenile constitution ; and not ou!}' are they 
ignored in tlie nursery regmien, but tlicre la 
a geaeral tendency to foibid the gratification 
of them. Bread-and-milk in the morning, 
tea and bread-and-butter at night, or some 
dietary equally insipid, is rigidly .-idhercd to ; 
and any ministration to the palate is thought 
not only needle-ss but wrong. What is tiit 
necessary conscciuence ? When, on fefe- 
days, there is iin unl'mited access lo gooci" 
things — when a gift of pocket-money bring? 
the contents of the confectioner's windnw 
within reach, or when by some accident t];o 
free run of a fruit-garden is obtained, then 
the long-denied and therefore intense de- 
sires lead to gre-it excesses. There is fin im- 
promptu carnival, Ciiused not only by the le- 
iease from past restraints, but also by the 
consciousness that a long Lent will begin on 
the morrow. And then, when the evils cf 
repletion display themselves, it is argued tbi.f 
children must not be left to the guidance of 
their appetites ! These disastrous results of 
artificial resttiitions are themselves cited a? 
proving the ived for further restrictions I 
We contend, therefore, that the reasoning 
commonly used to justify this system of in- 
terference is vicious. We contend that, were 
children allowed daily to partake (.f theso 
more sapid edibles, for which there is a 
physiological requirement, they would rarely 
exceed, as they now mostly do, when they 
have the opportunity : were fruit, as Dr. 
Combe recommends, " toci nstitute a part of 
the regular food" (given, as he advises, not 
between meals, but along with them), there 
would be none of that craving; which prompts 
the devouring of such fruits as crabs and 
does. And similarly in other cases. 

Not only is it that the dpiiori reasons for 
trusting the appetites of children are S3 
strong, and that the reasons assigned for 
distrusting them are invalid, but it is that 
no other guidance is worthy of any confi- 
dence. What is the value cf this parental 
judgment, set up as an alternative regu- 
lator? When to " Oliver asking f.n- more," 
the mamma or the governess replies in the 
negative, on what (lata does she proceed ? 
She thinks he has had enough. But where 
a.e her grounds for so thinking? Has she 
some secret understanding with the I)oy'9 
stomach — some elaiiv yant power enabling, 
her to discern the needs of his b'^dy ? If 
not, liow can she safely deciile? Docs shtf 
not know that the demand of the system fi;r 
food is determinetl by numerous and involv- 
ed causes — varies with the lemi)eralure, with 
thehj'grometric state of the air, with the elec^ 
trie state of the air — varies also according to 
the exercise taken, according to the kind and 
quality of food eaten at tiie last meal, and 
according to the rapidity with wliich the last 
meal was digested ? How can she calculato 
the result of such a comlrination of causes ? 
As we heard said by the father of a five-years- 
old boy, who stands a head taller than most 
of his age, and is proportionately robn?t, 
rosy, and active: "lean see no artificial 



808 



EDUCATION: INTELLECTUAL, MORAL. AND PHYSICAL. 



standard by which to mete out his food. If 
I say, ' this much is enough.' it is a mere 
guess ; and the guess is as likely to be wrong 
as right. Consequently, having no faith in 
guesses, I let him eat his fill." And cer- 
tainly any one judging of his policy by its 
effects would be constrained to admit its 
wisdom. In truth, this confidence, with 
which most parents take upon themselves to 
legislate for the stomachs of their children, 
proves their unacqunintance with the princi- 
ples of physiology : if they knew more they 
would be more modest. " The pride of sci- 
ence is humble when compared with the 
pride of ignorance." If any one would learn 
how little faith is to be placed in human 
Judgments, and how mucli in the pre-estab- 
lished arrangements of things, let him com- 
pare the riishness of the inexperienced phy- 
eicKin Willi the caution of the most advanced ; 
or let him dip into Sir John Forbes' work, 
"On Nature and Ait in the Cure of Dis- 
ease ;" and he will then see lliat, in propor- 
tion as men gain a greater knowledge of the 
laws of life, they come to have less conti- 
dence in themselves and more in nature. 

Turning frrin the ((uestion of quantity of 
food to that of qvality, we may discern the 
same ascetic tendency. Not simply a more 
or less restricted diet, but a comparatively 
low diet, is thought proper for children. The 
current opinion is that they should have but 
little animal food. Among the less wealthy 
classes economy seems to have dictated this 
opinion — the wish has been father to the 
thought. Parents not affording to buy much 
meat, and liking meat themselves, answer 
the petitions of juveniles with, " Meat is not 
good for little boys and girls ;" and this, at 
first, probably nothing but a convenient ex- 
cuse, has by lepetition grown into an article 
of i:iH"« ; while the classes with whom cost 
is not a consideration have been swayed 
partly by the example of the majority, partly 
l>y the influence of nurses drawn from the 
lower classes, and in some measure by the 
reaction against past animalism. 

If, however, we inquire for the basis of this 
opinion, we find little or none. It is a dog- 
ma repeated and received without proof, 
like that which, for thousands of years, in- 
sisted on the necessity of swaddling-clothes. 
It may indeed be true that, to the young 
child's stomach, not yet endowed with much 
muscular power, meat, which requires con- 
Biderable trituration before it can be made 
into chyme, is an unfit aliment. But this 
objecti<jn does not tell against animal food 
from which the fibrous part has been ex- 
tracted ; nor does it apply when, after the 
lupse of two or three years, considerable 
muscular vigor has been acquired. And 
while the evidence in support of this dogma, 
partially valid in the case of vary young 
thildrrn, is not valid in the case of older 
children, who are, nevertheless, ordinarily 
treated in conformity with the dogma, the 
adverse evidence is abundant and conclusive. 
The verdict of science is exactly opposite to 
the popular opinion. We have put the i^ues- 



' tion to two of our leading physicians, and to 
Beveral of the most distinguished physiolo- 
gists, and they uniformly agree in the con- 
clusion that children should have% diet not 
lesH nutritive, but, if anything, more nutritive 
than that of adults. 

, The grounds for this conclusion are obvi- 
ous, and the leasoning simple. It needs but 
to compare the vital processes of a man 
with those of a boy to see at once that the 
demand for sustenance is relatively greater in 
the boy than in the man. What are the ends 
for which a man requires food ? Each day 
his body undergoes more or less wear — wear 
through muscular exertion, wear of the ner- 
vous system through mental actions, wear of 
the visceia in cairying on the functions of 
life ; and the tissue thus wasted has to be re- 
newed. Each day, too, by perpetual radia- 
tinn, his body loses a large amount of heat ; 
and as, for the continuance of the vital 
actions, the temperature of the body must be 
maintained, this loss has to be compensated 
by a constant production of heat ; to which 
end certain constituents of the food are un- 
ceasingly undergoing oxidation. To make 
up for the day's waste, and to supply fuel 
for the day's expenditure of heat, are, then, 
the sole purposes for which the adult re- 
quires food. Consider, now, the case of the 
boy. He, too, wastes the substance of his 
body by action ; and it needs but to note his 
restless activity to see that, in propoition to 
his bulk, he probably wastes as much as a 
man. He, too, loses heat by radiation ; and, 
as his body exposes a greater surface in pro- 
portion to its mass than does that of a man, 
and therefore loses heat more lapidly, the 
quantity of heat-food he iequires is, bulk for 
bulk, greater than that requited by a man. 
So that even had the boy no other vital pro- 
cesses to carry on than the man has, he would 
need, relatively to his size, a somewhat larger 
supply of nutriment. But, besides repairing 
his body and maintaining its heat, the boy 
has to make new li=(sue — to grow. After 
waste and thermal loss have been provided 
for, such surplus of nutriment as remains 
goes to the further building up of the frame ; 
and only in virtue of this surplus is normal 
growth possilile — the growth that sometimes 
takes place in the absence of such surplus, 
causing a manifest prostration consequent 
upon defective repair. How peremptory is 
the demand of the unfolding organism for 
materials is seen alike in that "school-boy 
hunger" which after-life rarely parallels in 
intensity, and in the comparatively quick 
return of appetite. And if there needs 
further evidence of this extra necessity for 
nutriment, we have it in the fact that, during 
the famines following shipwrecks and other 
disasters, the children are the first to die. 

This relatively greater need for nutriment 
being admitted, as it must perforce be, the 
question that remains is, Shall we meet it by 
giving an excessive quantity of what may be 
called dilute food, or a more moderate quau 
tity of concentrated food ? The nutriment 
obtaiuable from a given weight of meat ia 



EDUCATION: INTELLECTUAL, MORAL. AND PHYSICAL. 



809 



obtainable only from a larger weight of bread, 
or from ;\ still Isirger wei.'^ht of potuloes, iind 
Boon. To fulfil Uie roqiiireinei)t. the (}aau- 
tity must hs iucieused as tho nutritivetiess is 
dimiuisbed. Shall wu, then, respond lo the 
extra wants of the growing chUd by giving 
an adequiiie quantity of food as good as that 
of adults ? Or, regardless of the fact that its 
BtomacU has to dispose of a relatively hirger 
quantity even of this good food, Bhail vre 
further Uix it by giving an inferior food in 
still greater quantity ? 

The answer is tolerably obvious. The 
more the labor of digestion can be econo- 
mized the more energy is left for the pur- 
poses of growth and ac'dou. The func- 
tions of the stomach and intestines cannot be 
performed without a large supply of blood 
and nervous power ; and in the comparative 
lassitude that follows a hearty meal every 
adult has [iroof ih;it this supply of blood and 
nervous power is at the expense of the sys- 
tem at large. If the requisite nutriment is 
furnished by a great quantity of innutritions 
food, more woi k is entailed on the viscera 
than wlien it is fuinished by a moderate 
quantity of niitrilious food. This extra 
work is so much slieer loss — a loss which in 
children shows itself either in diminished en- 
ergy or in smaller growth, or in both. The 
inference is, then, that they should have a 
diet wnich combines, as muck as possible, 
nutritivenes3 and digestibility. 

It is doubtless true that boys and girls 
may be brought up upon an exclusively, or 
almost exclusively, vegetable diet. Among 
the upper classes are to be found children to 
whom c'jmparatively little meat is given ; 
and who, nevertheless, grow and appear in 
good health. Animal food is scarcely tasted 
by the oirspriog of laboring people ; and yet 
they reach a healthy maturity. But these 
seemingly adverse facts have by no means 
tho weight commonly supposed. In the first 
place, it does not follow that those who in 
early years flourish on bread and potatoes 
will eventually reach a tine development ; 
and a comparison between the agricultural 
laborers and the gentry in England, or be- 
tween the middle and lower classes in 
France, is by no means in favor of vegetable 
feeders. In the second place, the question 
is not only a question of bulk, but also a 
question of quality. A soft, flabby fiesh 
makes as good a .show as a firm one ; but 
though to the careless eye a child of full, 
rtaecid tissue mny appear (he equid of one 
wliose fibres are well toned, a trial of 
Mliengfh will prove the difference. Obesity 
in adults is often a sigu of feebh ness. Men 
lose weight ia training. And heuce the ap. 
pcatauce of tlie.-;e lovv.fed children is by no 
means conclusive. In tne third place, not 
< nly »i'ze but energy has to hi considered. 
Between children of the meat-eating classics 
and those of the bread-anil-potato-eating 
classes there is a marked contrast in this re- 
BI)ect. Both in mental and physical vivacity 
the low-fed pensant-boy is greatly infeiior to 
the better-fed son of a'genLlemaQ. 



If we <M)mpare different classes of emmals, 
or diffeient laces of men, or the same ani- 
mals or men when difft-reiitly fed, we find 
Klill mo:c distinct jiroof that the degree ofeii- 
evf/y ess-enfially depends on the nutrUiveness of 
the food. 

In a cow, subsisting on so innutrilive a 
food as grass, we see that the iinnieiise quan- 
tity required to be eaten necessitates an 
enormous digestive system ; that the iimlis, 
small in comparison with tho body, arc bur- 
dened by its weight ; that in carrying about 
this heavy body and digesting this excessive 
quantity of food, a great amount of force is 
expended ; and that, having but little energy 
remaining, the creature is sluggish. Com- 
pare with the cow a horse — an animal of 
nearly allied structure but adapted to a 
more concentrated food, Plere we see that 
the body, and more especially its abdominal 
region, bears a much smaller ratio to the 
limbs ; that the powers are not taxed by the 
support of such massive viscera, nor the 
idigestion of so bulky a food ; and that, as a 
consequence, there is great locomotive en- 
ergy and considerable vivacity. If, again, we 
contrast the stolid inactivity of the grami- 
nivorous sheep with the liveliness of the dog, 
subsisting upon flesh or farinaceous food, or 
a mixture of the two, we see a difference 
similar in kind, but still greater in degree. 
And after walking through the Zoological 
Gardens, and noting the restlessness with 
which the carnivorous animals pace up and 
down their cages, it needs but to remember 
that none of the herbivorous animals habiU 
ually display this superfluous energy, to see 
how clear is the relation between concentra- 
tion of food and degree of activity. 

That these differences are not directly 
consequent upon differences of constitution, 
as some may argue, but are directly conse- 
quent upon differences in the food which tlie 
creatures are constituted to subsist on, is 
proved by the fact that they are observable 
between different divisions of the same spe- 
cies. Take the case of mankind. The Aus- 
tralians, Bushmen, and others of tho lowest 
savages, who live on roots and berries, varied 
by larvffi of insects and the like meagre fare, 
are comparatively puny in stature, have large 
abdomens, soft and undeveloped muscles, 
and are quite unable to cope with Euro- 
ipeans, either in a struggle or in prolonged 
exertion. Count up the wild races who aio 
well grown, strong and active, as the Kaflirs, 
North American Indians, and Palagonians, 
and 3'ou find Ihem large consumers of flesh. 
Tiio ill-fed Hindoo goes down before the Eng- 
lishman fed on more nutritive food, to 
whom he is as inferior in mental as in phys- 
ical energy. And generally, we think, tho 
history of (he world shows that the well-fed 
races have been the energetic and dominant 
races. 

Still stronger, however, becomes the argu- 
ment, when we find that the same individual 
animal becomes capable of more or less ex- 
ertion according as its food is more or less 
nutritious. This has been clearly demon- 



310 



EDUCATION: INTELLECTUAL, MORAL, AND PHYSICAL. 



strated in the case of the horse. Though 
llesh miiy be gained by a grazing horse, 
strength is lost ; us putting him to hurd 
work proves. " Tiie consequence of turning 
hor?es out to grass is relaxation of the mus- 
cular system. " " Grass is a very good prep- 
aration for a bullock for Smilhdeld market, 
but a very bad one ff">r a hunter." It was 
well kuowu of old that, aflur passing the 
eummer months in the fields, hunters re- 
quired some months of stable-feeding before 
becoming able to follow the hounds, and 
that they did not get into good condition 
nntil the beginning of the next spring. 
And the modem practice is that insisted on 
by Mr. Apperley, "Never to give a hunter 
what is c[.lled 'a summer's run at grass,' 
and, excep-t imder particular and very favor- 
able circumslauces, never to turn him out at 
all." That is to say, never give him poor 
food : great energy and endurance are to be 
?>btained only by the continuous use of verj^ 
nutritive food. So true is this that, as 
proved by Mr. Apperley, prolonged high- 
feeding will enable a middling horse to 
tqual, in his performances, a first-rate hi.rse 
fed in the ordinary way. To whicli various 
evidences add the familiar fact that, when a 
horse is required to do double duty, iL is the 
];ractice to give him beans — a food contain- 
ing a larger proportion of nitrogenous, or 
flesh-making material, than his habitual oats. 

Once more, in the case of individual men 
the truth has been illustrated with equal or 
fitdl greater clearness. We do not refer to 
ms-'n in training for feats of strength, whose 
regimen, however, thoroughly conforms to 
the doctrine. We refer to the experience of 
railway contractors and their laborers. It 
has been for years past a well-established 
fact that tlie English navv3^ eating largely of 
flesh, is far moie eflieient than a continental 
navvy living eu a less nuliilive food: so 
much more ellicient that English contractors 
for conlinenlal r;iiiw;;';fs have habitually 
taken tlieir laborers wilh ihcm. That dilTer- 
ence of diet and not difference of race 
caused this superior] ly has been of late dis 
tinctly shown. For it has tumid ()Ut that 
when the continental navvies live in the same 
style as their English competitors they pres- 
entl.y rise, mcie or less nearly, to a par with 
them in etlicien'-'y. To whicli fact let us 
here add the c:ouverye one, to which We can 
give personal testimony b.ised upon six 
months' experience of vegeiarianism, that 
&bstinen(e from meat entails diminished en- 
ergy of both body and miurl. 

Do not these vaii(jus evidences distinctly 
indoise our argument lespetllng the feeding 
(if children V Do they not iniply tliut, even 
supposing the snme stature and bulk to be 
attained on an iunutritive as on a nutritive 
diet, the quality of tissue is greatly inferior? 
Do llney not eslabli.'-h the position lluit, 
where eneigy as well as growth has to 'Le 
maintained, itcan only be done by high feed- 
ing? Do they not confiim the a prcori con- 
clusi(m that, thoug'i a child of whom li'itle is 
txpccled in the way of bodily or mental ac- 



tivity mny thrive tclcm'jly well on farina- 
ce(His sulstani es, a child who is dail^' re- 
quired, not only to form the due^mount of 
new tissue, but to supply the waste conse- 
tpient ou great muscular action, and the fur- 
ther waste consequent on hard exercise of 
brain, must live on substances containing a 
larger ratio of nutritive matter ? And is it 
not an obvious corollary that di nial of this 
better food will be at the expense either of 
growth, or of bodily activity, or of mental 
activity, as cons-titution and circumstances 
may determine ? Yv^e believe no logical intel- 
lect will question it. Tofh'uk otherwise is 
to entertain in a disguised form the old fal- 
lacy of the perpetual-inction schemers — that 
it is possible to get power out of nothing. 

Before leaving tlie question of food, a few 
words must be said ou another requisite — 
vancty. In this respect the dietaiy of the 
young is very faulty. If not, like our sol- 
diets, condemned to " twenty years of boiled 
beef," our children have mostly to bear a 
monotony which, though less extreme and 
less lasting, is quite as clearly at variance 
with the laws of heallh. At dinner, it is 
true, they usually have fo(Hl that is more or 
less mixed, and that is changed ilay by day. 
But week afler week, month after month, 
year after ^ear, comes the same breakfast of 
brcud-and milk, or, it may l)e, oatiui'al por- 
ridge. And wilh like persistence the day is 
closed, perhaps with a second edition of the 
bread-and-milk, perhaps with tea and bread- 
and-butter. 

This practice is opposed to the dictates of 
physiology. The satiety produced by an 
often repeated dish, and the graliticatiou 
caused by one long a stranger to the palate 
are not meaningless, as many caielessly as- 
sume ; but they are the incentives to a whole- 
some diversity of diet. It is a fact, estah- 
lislied by numerous experiments, that there 
is s(!arcely any one food, however good, 
whi(;h supplies in due proportions or right 
forms all ilie elements required for carrying 
on the vitfil processes in a normal manner : 
fioin wheiue it is to be inferred that fre- 
quent change of food is desirable to balance 
the supply of all the elements. It is a fur- 
ther tact, v/ell known to physiologists, that 
the enjoyment given by a much-liked food 
is a nervous stimulus which, by increasing 
the action of the heart, and so propelling the 
blood with increased vigor, aids in the subse- 
quent digestion. And these truths are in har- 
mony with the maxims of modern caltlo- 
feeding, which dictate a rotation of dirt. 

Not only, however, is periodic change of 
food very desirable, but, for the same rea- 
sons, it is very desirable that a mixture of 
footl should be taken at each rneal, Tne bet- 
ter balance of ingredients and the greater ner- 
vo<is stimulation are advuutage.s which hold 
here as before. If facts are asked for, we 
may name as one, the comparative ease with 
which the stomach disposes of a French din- 
ner, enormous in quantity but extremely 
varied in luatcrial. Few will contend that 
siu equal weight of one likid of foixl, k*w- 



EDUCATION: INTELLECTUAL, MORAL, AKD PHYSICAL. 



?J1 



pver well cooked, cDuld be digested with as 
rn;i(;h facility. If any desire further facts, 
they may find tliem in every ruodera book 
on the mauageiuent of uniaials. Animals 
ihrive best when each meal is made up of 
several things. And indeed, among raeu of 
icience llie truth has been long ago estab- 
ii.'^hed. The experiments of Goss and SSlavk 
" allori] the m )St decisive proof of the ad- 
vantage, or rather the necessity, of a mixture 
of sul)slances, in order to produce the com- 
pound which is the iiest adapted for the ac- 
tion of the stomach." 

Should any object, as probably manj' will, 
that a rotating dietary for children, and one 
which also requires a mixture of food at ea&di 
meal, would entail too much trouble, we reply 
tiiat no trouble is thought too great wliicli con- 
duces to the mental development of children, 
and that for their future welfare good bodily 
development is ettually important. Moreover, 
it seems alike stid and strange that a trouble 
which is cheerfully taken in the fattening of 
pigs should be thought too great in the rear- 
ing of childien. 

One more paragraph, with the view of 
■waining tlio.'se who may ])ropose to adopt 
the regimen indicated. The change must 
uot be made suddenly ; for continued low- 
feeding so enfeebles the system as to disable 
it from at once d(aling witii a high diet. 
Deficient nutrition is itself a causC of dys- 
pepsia. This is true even of animals. 
'* VVhen calves are fed with skimmed miik, 
or whey, or other poor food, they are liable 
to indigestion." Hence, therefore, where 
the energies are low, the transition to a gen- 
erous diet must be gradual, each increment 
of strength gained justifying a further in- 
crease of nutriment. Further, it should al- 
ways be borne in mind that the concentra- 
tion of nutriment may be carried too far. A 
l)ulk sufficient to fill the stomach is one req- 
uisite of a proper meal ; and this requisite 
negatives a diet deficient in those waste mat- 
ters which give ade(juate mass. Though ihe 
size of the digestive organs is less in the 
well-fed civilized races than in the ill- fed sav- 
age ones ; and though their .size may event- 
ually diminish siiil further, yet for the time 
being the bulk of the ingesta must be deter- 
mined by the existing capacity. But, paying 
due reg.ird to these two qualilications, our 
conclusions are, that the food of children 
should be highly nutritive, that it should be 
varied at each meal and at successive meals, 
and that it should be abundant. 

"W^ith clothing as with food, the estab- 
lished tendency is toward an improper scan- 
tiness. Here, too, ascelicism peeps out. 
Th^re is a current theoiy, vnguely enter- 
tained, if not put into a dtliuite formula, that 
the sensaii')n3 are to be di^rcguided. They 
do not exist for our guidiuice, but to mislead 
us, seems to be the pievalent belief i educed 
to its naked form, it, is a grave error : we 
are. much more beueiioently coustitulcd. It is 
not obedience to the sensations, but disvibe- 
riienceto them, which is the hai)itur\l cause of 
bodily evils. It is uol the eaiiag- when hun- 



gry, but the eating in the absence of appe- 
tite which is bad. It is not the drinking 
when thirsty, but the continuing to tirink 
when thirst has ceased that is the vice. 
Harm results not from breathing lluit fresh 
air which every healthy peison enjoys, but 
from continuing to breathe foul air. spite of 
the protest of the lungs. Harm leyults not 
from taking that active exercise which, as 
every child shows us, nature strongly 
prompts, but from a persistent disregard of 
nature's promptings. Not that menial 
activity which is spontaneous and enjoyable 
does the niiscliief, but ihat which is per- 
severed in after a hot or aching head com- 
mands desistance. Not that bodily exertion 
which is pleasant or indifferent does injury, 
but that which is continued when exhaus- 
tion forbids. It is true that, in those who 
have long led unhealthy lives, the sensations 
are not trustworthy guides. People who 
have for years been almost constantly in- 
doors, who have exerci.sed their biains very 
much, and their bodies .scarcely at all, who 
in eating have obeyed t'.ieir clocks without 
consulting their stomachs, may very likely 
be mislsd by their vitiated feelings. But 
their abnormal state is itself the result of 
transgressing their feelings. Had they from 
childhood up never disobeyed what w'e may 
term the physical conscience, it would not 
have been seared, but would have remained 
a faithful monitor. 

Among the sensations serving for our guid- 
ance are those of heat and cold ; and a cloth- 
ing for children which does not carefully 
consult these sensations is to be condemned. 
The common notion about " hardening " is a 
grievous delusion. Children are uot unfre- 
quenlly " hardened " out of the world ; and 
those who survive permanently suffer either 
in growth or constitution. " Their delicate 
appearance furnishes ample indication of the 
miscliief thus produced, and their frequent 
attacks of illness miglu prove a warning even 
to unreflecting parents," says Dr. Combe. 
The reasoning on which this hardening the- 
ory rests is extremely supeilicial. Wealthy 
pnrents, seeing little peasant boys and girls 
playing about in the open air only half 
clothed, and joining with this fact the gen- 
eral healthiness of laboiing people, draw the 
unwarrantable conclusion that the healthi- 
ness is the icsultof the exposure, and resolve 
to keep their own offspring scantily covered ! 
It is forgotten that these urchins who gam- 
bol upon village-greens are in many respecis 
favorably circumstanced — that their days are 
epent in almost perpetual play, that they 
are always breathing fresh air, and that 
their systems are not disturl;ed by overtaxed 
brains. For aught that appears to the con- 
trary, their goon health may be maintained, 
uol in consequence of but in spite of theif 
deficient clothing. This alternative conelu- 
sion we believe to be the true one, and that 
!iu inevitalile detriment results from the 
needles^ loss of animal beat to which they 
are subject. 

For when, the ^constitution being sound 



^12 



EDUCATION. INTELLECTUAL, MORAL, AND PHYSICAL. 



/fnrngh to bear it, exposure does produce 
liatduess, it doey su iit tlie expense of growlli. 
This truth is displaved alike in animals and 
in man. The Sliellaud puny bears greater 
inclemencies than Ihe horsis of the south, 
l)ul is dwarfed. Highland siieep and cattle, 
living in a colder climate, aie ttiinti'.d in com- 
parison ■vvilh English breeds In both the 
arctic and aiifaretic regions the human race 
falls much below its ordinary height : the 
Laplander and Esquimau.x are very short ; 
and the Terra del Fuigians, who go naked 
in a cold latitude, are described by Darwin 
as so stunted and hideous that "one can 
hardly make one's self believe they are fel- 
low-creaUues. " 

Science cleaily explains this dwarfishness 
produced by great abstraction of heat : show- 
ing that, fdod and otlu^r things being equal, 
it unavoidably results. For, as before 
pointed out, to make up for that cooling by 
radiation which the body is constantly un- 
dergoing, there must be a constant oxitlation 
of ceitaiu matters which form part of the 
food. And in proportion as the theimal loss 
is gical must the (luaulity of these matters 
recpiired for oxidation be great. But the 
power of the oigeslive organs is limited. 
Hence it follows that when they have to 
prepare a large quantity of this mateiial need- 
ful for nniinlaiuiug the tem])eralure, they can 
prepare but a small quantity of the material 
which goes to build up the fiame. Exces- 
sive expenditure for fuel uitails diminished 
inians for other purpi ses ; wherefore there 
necessarily tesuUs a body small in size, or in- 
ferior in lextuie, or both. 

Hence the great importance of clothing. 
ivs Liebig says : " Our clothing is, in refer- 
ence to the Icmperalure of the body, merely 
an equivalent for a certain amoimt of food." 
By fiiminishing the loss of heat it diminishes 
the amount of fuel needful for maintaining 
the Iteat ; and when the .stomach has less to 
do in prepaiing fuel it can do more in pre- 
paring other materials. This deduction is 
entirely continued by the experience of those 
who manage animals. Cold can be borne by 
animals only at an expense of fat, or muscle, 
or growth, as the case may be. " If fattening 
cattle are exposed to a low temperature, 
either their progress iiuist be jetaided or a 
great additional expenditure of food in 
cut red." Mr. Appeiiey insists strongly 
that to bring hunters into good condition it 
id necessary that the stable should be kept 
warm. And among those who rear racers it 
is an established doetiine that exposure is to 
be avoided. 

The scientific truth thus illustrated by eth- 
nohigy, and recognized by agiicullurisls and 
bpi.iismen, applies with aouble force to chil- 
dien. In proportion to their smallness and 
the rapidity of their growth is the injury 
from coin great. In France new-born in- 
fants often die in winter from l)eing carried 
to the nttice of the mnire for registration. 
" M. Quelelet has pointed out that in Bel- 
gium two infants die in January for one that 
dieb in July." And in llussia the infant 



mortality is something enormous. Even 
when near maturity the undeveloped frame 
is comparatively unable to bear ex^tsure : as 
witness the quickness with which young .sol- 
diers succumb in a trying campaign. The 
ratiimale is obvious. We have ahead}' ad- 
verted to the fact that, in consequence of the 
varjdng relation between surface and bulk, a 
child loses a relatively larger araouut of heat 
than an adult ; and here we must point out 
that the disadvantage under which the child 
thus labors ss very great. Lehmann says : 
" If the carbonic acid excreted by children or 
young animals is calculated for an equal 
bodily weight, it results that children pro- 
duce nearly twice as much acid as adults." 
Now the quantity of carbonic acid given oil 
varies with tolerable accuracy as the quanti- 
ty of heat produced. And thus we see that 
in children the system, even when n.jt placed 
at a disadvantage, is called upon to provide 
nearly double the proportion of mateiial for 
generating heat. 

See, then, the extreme folly of clothing the 
young scantily. What father, full grown 
though he is, losing heat less rapidly as he 
d()es, and having no physiological necessity 
but to supply the waste of each day — what 
father, he ask, would think it salutary to go 
about with bare legs, bare arms, and bare 
neck? Yet this tax upon the system, from 
which he would shrink, he inflicts upon his 
little ones, who are so much less able to bear 
it ! or, if he does not inflict it, sees it inflicted 
without protest. Let him remember that 
every ounce of nutriment needlessly expend- 
ed for the maintenance of temperatuie is so 
much deducted from the nutriment going ti> 
build up the frame and maintain tne ener- 
gies, and that even when colds, congestions, 
or other consequent disorders are escaped, 
diminished growth or less perfect structure 
is inevitable. 

The rule is, therefore, not fro dress in an 
invariable way in all cases, but to put on 
clothing in kind and quantity sufficient in tJie 
individual atae 1o protect the body effectually 
from an abiding sensation of atld, however 
slif/ht." This rule, the importance of which 
Dr. Combe indicates by the italics, is one in 
which men of science and practitioners 
agree. We have met with none competent 
to form a judgment on t!ie matter who do 
not strongly condemn the exposure of chil- 
dren's limlis. If there is one point above 
others in which "pestilent custom" should 
be ignored it is this. 

Lamentable, indeed, is it to see mothert 
seriously damaging the constitutions of their 
children out of compliance with an irrational 
fashion. It is bad enough that they should 
tiiemselves conform to every folly which our 
Gallic neighbors please to initiate ; but that 
they should clothe their children in any 
mountebank dress which Le petit Courrier 
des Dames indicates, regardless of its insuffi- 
ciency and uufltness, is monstrous. Discom- 
fort, more or less great, is inflicted ; frequent 
disorders are entailed, growth is checked or 
stamiau uudermiued, premature death not 



EDUCATION: INTELLECTUAL. MORAL, AND PHYSICAL. 



813 



uncommonly caused, and all because it is 
thought needful Ic make frocks of a size and 
material dictated bv Jerench caprice. Not 
only is it that for the sake of conformity 
mothers thus punish and injure (heir little 
ones by scantiness oi covering, but it is that 
from an allied motive tuey impose a style of 
dress which forbias healthful activity. To 
please the eve, colors and fabrics are chosen 
totally untit to bear that rough usage which 
unrestrained play iavolves ; and then to pre- 
vent damage the unrestrained play is inter- 
dicted. " Get up tuis moment : you will 
Boil your clean frock," is the mandate issued 
to some urchin creepmg about >'jn the floor. 
" Come hack : you will dirty your stock- 
ings," calls out the governess to one of her 
charges, who has left the footpatli to scram- 
ble up a bank. Tlius is the evi! doubled. 
That they may come up to their mumma's 
standard of prettiness, and be admired by her 
visitors, children must have habiliments defi- 
cient in quantity and unfit in texture ; and 
that these easily-damaged liabilimenls may be 
kept clean and uninjured, the restless activ- 
ity, so natural and needful for tbe young, is 
more or less restrained. The exercise which 
becomes doubly requisite when the clothing 
Is insufticiect 'Is cut short lest it should de- 
face the clothing. Would that the terrible 
cruelly of this system could be seen by those 
who maintain it We do not hesitate to say 
that, through enfeebled health, defective ener- 
gies, ami conse()uent non-success in life, 
thousands are annually doomed to unhappi- 
Dpss by this unscrupulous regard for appear- 
ances, even when they are not. by eaily 
death, literally sacrificed to the Moloch of 
maternal vanit}'. We are reluctant to coun- 
Bel strong measures, but really the evils are 
eo great as to justify, or even to demanil, a 
peieinptory interference on tlie part of 
fathers. 

Our conclusions are, then, that wdiile the 
clothing of children should never be in such 
excess as to create o[)pressive warmth, it 
should always be suthcient to prevent any 
general feeling of cold ; * that iusleud of the 
flimsy cotton, "inen, or mixed fabrics com- 
monlj' used, it should be luade of some good 
non-conductor, such as coaise wcsjllen cloth ; 
that it should l-j so strong as to leceive little 
damage from the hard wear and tear which 
childish sports will give it ; and that its colors 
should be such as will not soon suffer from 
use and exposure. 

To the impoi lance of bodily exercise most 

E)eop!e are in some degree awake. Peihaps 
ess needs saying on thi^ requisite of physical 
education than on most others ; at an^ rate. 



* It i;» needful to remark that children whoso leM 
»nd aims liavf been tr ni the beaiiming habitiialTy 
without covering, cea-e to l)e coiit^iioas thui I he ex- 
posed siirfiiccs aie cold, ju-<t as bj' use we have ail 
ceased to l)e con-cioiis that our faces are cold, even 
when out of doors. But llioiigh iii such children the 
senisations no lonjrcr oroiest. it doe- not follow that 
th'* system fscapi'8 injury; any more ihan it follows 
that the Fue^lan is undiiniag.^d by exposure because 
he t)ears with indiiier-nce tlie melting of ihc falling 
auow on hiu naked body. 



in f^o far as boys are concerned. Public 
schools and jjrivate schools alike furnish 
tolerably adequate play-grounds ; and there ia 
usually a fair share of lime for out-of-door 

fames, and a recognitiim of them as needful, 
n this, if in no other direction, 't seems ad- 
mitted that Uio nntural promptings of boyish 
instinct may advantageously l>e followed ; 
and, indeed, in the mjdein practice of brtak- 
ing the prolonged ni >rni!ig anil nfternoou's 
lessons by a few minutes' opm-air lecrea- 
tion we see an increasing tendency to con- 
form school regulations to tbe botliiy sensa- 
tions of the pupils. Here, thru, iittlo needs 
to be said in the way of expostulation or sug- 
gestion. 

But we have been obliged to qualify this 
admission by inserting the clause " in so far 
as boys are concerned." Unfortunately, the 
fact is quite otherwise in the case of girls. 
It chances, somewhat strangely, that we have 
daily opportunity of drawing a comparison. 
We have both a boys' and a girls' school 
within view, and the contrast between them 
is remarkable. In the one case nearly the 
whole of ii large gaiden is turned into an 
open gravelled space, affording ample scope 
for games, and supplied with poles and hori- 
zontal bars for gymnastic exercises. Every 
day before breakfast, again l(;ward eleven 
o'clock, again at mid-day, again in the after- 
noon, and once more after scliool is over, the 
neighborhood is awakened by a chorus of 
shouts and laughter as the boys rush out to 
play ; and for as long as they remain, both 
eyes and ears give proof that they are ab- 
sorbed in that enjoyable activity which 
makes the pulse bound and insures the 
healthful activity of every organ. How un- 
like is the picture offered by the " Establish- 
ment for Young Ladies !" Until the fact 
was pointed out, we actually did not know 
that we had a girls' school as close to us as 
the school for boys. The garden, equally 
larce with the other, affords no sign what- 
ever of any provision for juvenile recreation, 
but is entirely laid out wilh prim giassplots, 
gravel-walks, shrubs, and flowers, after the 
usual suburban style. During five months 
we have not once had our attention drawn to 
the premises liy a shout or a laugh. Occa- 
sionally girls may be observed sauntering 
along the paths with their lesson-books in 
their hands, or else walking arm-in-arm. 
Once, indeed, we saw one chase another 
round the garden ; but, with this exception, 
nothing like vii;;orous exeriion has b-en visi- 
ble. 

Why this astonishing difference? Is it 
that Ihe constitution ol a giil differs so en- 
tirely fiom that of a boy as not to need these 
active exeicisis'? Is it that a girl lias none 
of the promptings to vociferous play by 
which boys aie impelled? Or is it that, 
while in boys these promptings are to be re- 
garded as securing that bodily activity with- 
out which there cannot be adequate develop- 
ment, to their sistcis nature has given them 
for no purpose whatever — unless it l>e for the 
vexation of schoolmistresses? Perhaps, 



814 



EDUCATION: INTELLECTUAL, MORAL, AND PHYSICAL. 



however, we mistake the aim of those wlio 
train the ^cutler sex. We have a vnguc sus- 
[jicion that to produce a robust j-j'iydque is 
thouglit undesirable ; that rude health and 
•ibuuduoit vigor are considered soniewlmt 
leboian ; (hat a certain delicacy, a strength 
i',i competent to more than a mile or two's 
walk, an appetite fastidious and easil}' satis- 
fied, jcined with that timidity which com- 
monly accompanies feebleness, are held more 
ladylike. We do not expect that any would 
distinctly avow this ; but we fancy the gov- 
erness-niind is liaiinted by an ideal young 
lady bearing not a little resemblance to this 
type. If so, it must be admitted that the es- 
tablished system is admirably calculated to 
realize this ideal. But to suppose that such 
is the ideal of the opposite sex is a profound 
mistake. That men are not conmionlj^ drawn 
towaid masculine women, is doubtless true. 
That such relative weakness as calls for the 
protection of superior strength is an element 
of attraction we quite admit. But the differ- 
ence to which the feelings thus respond is the 
natural, pre-estab'.ished difference, which 
will as-ert itself without artificial appliances. 
And when, by artificial appliances, the de- 
gree of (his difference is increased, it be- 
comes an element of repulsion rather than 
attraction. 

" Then girls should he allowed to run wild 
—to become as lude as boys, and grow up 
uto romps and hoydens 1" exclaims some 
defender of the proprieties. This, we pre- 
sume, is the ever-present dread of sciioolmis- 
.tresses. It appears, on inquirj^ that at " Es- 
tablishments for Young Ladies" noisy play 
like that daily indulg.ed in by boys is a pun- 
ishable offence ; and it is to oe inferred that 
(his noisy play is forbidden, lest unladylike 
habits should be formed. The fear is quite 
groundless, however. For if the sportive ac- 
tivity allowed to boys does not prevent them 
from glowing up into gentlemen, why 
fchoald a like sportive activity allowed to 
girls prevent them fiom growing up into 
ladies V Rough as may have been their ac- 
customtd piay-gicuud fiolics, youths who 
have left school do not indulge in hap-frog in 
the street or maibles in the drawing-room. 
Abandoning tlieir jackets, they abandon at 
the same time boyish gtunes, and display an 
anxiel} — often a ludicrous anxiety — (o avoid 
whatever is not manly. If now, on arriving 
at the due age, this feeling of masculine dig- 
nity puts so ethcient a restiaint (jn the romp- 
ing sports of boyhood, will not the feeling of 
feminine modesty, gradually strengthening 
as maturity is appioaehed, put aneflicieut 
restraint on the like sports of girlhood? 
Have not women even a greater regard for 
appearances than men? and will there not 
consequently arise in them evea a stronger 
check to whatever is rough or boisterous? 
Howabsiiid is the supposition that the wom- 
anly instincts wo 11 not asseit themselves 
hut for the rigorous discipline of schoolmis- 
tresses I 

In this, as in other cases, to remedy the 
avilb of one artificiality another urtiticiality 



has been introduced. The natural spontane- 
ous exercise having been forbidden, and tha 
bad consequences of no exercistf having be- 
come conspicuous, there has been adopted a 
system of factitious exercise — gymnastics. 
That this is better than nothing we admit ; 
but that it is an adequate substitute for play 
we deny. The defects are both positive and 
negative. In the first place, these formal, 
muscular motions, necessarily much less va- 
ried than those accompanying juvenile 
sports, do not secure so equable a distribu- 
tion of action to all parts of the body, 
whence it results that the exertion falling on 
special parts produces fatigue sooner than it 
would else have done : add to which that, if 
constantly repeated, this exertion of special 
parts leads to a disproportionate develop- 
ment. Again, the quantity of exercise thus 
taken will be deficient, not only in conse- 
quence of uneven distribution, but it will be 
further deficient in consequence of lick of 
interest. Even when not made repulsive, as 
they sometimes are, by assuming the shape 
of appointed lessons, these monotonous move- 
ments are sure to become wearisome from 
the absence of amusement. Competition, it 
is true, serves aa a stimulus ; but it is not a 
lasting stimulus, like that enjoyment which 
accompanies varied play. Not only, how- 
ever, are gymnastics inferior in respect of the 
quantity of muscular exertion which they 
secure ; they are still more inferior in respect 
of the quality. This comparative want of 
enjoyment to which we have just referred as 
a cause of early desistance from artificial ex- 
ercises is a'so a cause of inferiority in the 
effects they produce on the system. The 
coniQion assumption that so long as the 
amount of bodily action is the same, it mat- 
ters not whether it be pleasurable or other- 
wise, is a grave mistake. An agreeable 
mental excitement has a highly invigorating 
influence. See the effect produced upon an 
invalid by good news, or by the visit of an 
old friend. Mark how careful m'idical men 
are to recommend lively society to debilitated 
patients Remember how beneficial to the 
health is the gratification produced by change 
of scene. The truth is that happiness is the 
most powerful of tonics. By accelerating the 
circulation of tiie blf)od it facilitates the per- 
formance of every function, antl S(j tends alike 
to increase health when it exists and to restore 
it when it has been lost. H^'nce. the essential 
superiority of play to gymnastics. The ex- 
treme interest felt by children in their games 
and the riotous glee with which they carry 
on their rougher frolics are of as much iiu- 
portiince as the accompanying exertion. 
And as not supplying these mental stimuli, 
gymnastics must be fuudainenlally defective. 
Granting then, as we do, that formal exer- 
cises of the limbs are better than nothing; 
granting, further, that they may be used with 
advantage as supplementary aids, we yet con- 
tend th;it such formal exercises can never 
supply the place of the exercises prompted 
by nature. For girls as well as boys tho 
sportive activities to which the iustiucta im- 



EDUCATION: INTELLECTUAL, MORAL, AND PHYSICAL. 



315 



pel are essenlinl to bodily welfare. Who- 
ever forhitls tliem forbids the di\'incly-ap- 
puiuted means to piiysical development. 

A topic still remains — one perhaps more 
urgently demamling consideration than any 
of the foregoing. It is asserted by not a few, 
that among the educated classes the younger 
aduItM and those who are verging upon ma- 
turity are, on the average, neither so well 
grown nor so strong as thcnr seniors. Wlien 
first we heard this assertion we wore inclined 
to disregard it as one of the many manifesta- 
tions of the old tendency to exalt the past at 
the expense of the present. Calling to mind 
the facts that, as measured by ancient armor, 
modern men are proved to be larger than an- 
cient men, and that the tables of mortality 
show no diminution, but rather an increase in 
the duvation of life, we paid little attention 
to what seemed a groundless belief. De- 
tailed observation, however, has greatly 
shaken our opinion. Omitting from the 
comparison the lal)oring classes, we have no- 
ticed a majority of cases in which the chil- 
dren do not reach the stature of their par- 
ents ; and in massiveness, makinir due al- 
lowance for dilferonce of age, there seems a 
like inferiority. In health the contrast ap- 
pears still greater. Men of past generations, 
living riotously as they did, could l>ear much 
more than men of the present generation, 
who live soberly, can bear. Though tliey 
drank hard, kept irregular hour?, were re- 
gardless of fresh air, and thought little of 
cleanliness, our recent ancestors we:e capa- 
ble of prolonged application without injury 
even to a ripe old age : witness the annals of 
the bench and the bar. Yet we who think 
much about our bodily welfare ; who eat 
with moderation, and do not drink to excess ; 
who attend to ventilation, and use frequent 
ablutions ; who make annual excursions, and 
have the benefit of greater medical knowl- 
edge — we are continually breakiirg down 
under our work. Paying considerable atten- 
tion to the laws of health, we seem to be 
weaker than our grandfathers, who in many 
respects defied the laws of health. And judg- 
ing from the appeai'ance and frequent ail- 
ments of the rising generation, they are like- 
ly to be even less robust thaii ourselves. 

What is the meaning of tnis ? Is it that 
past overfeeding, ai.ke of adults and juve- 
niles, was less injurious than the underfeed- 
ing to which w^ have adverted as now so 
general? Is 1^ that the deficient clothing 
which this delusive hardening theory has en- 
couraged it' in blame ? Is it that the greater 
or less discoui-agement of juvenile sports, in 
deference to a false refinement, is the cause ? 
From our reasonings it may be inf<^.rred that 
each of these has probably bad a share in 
producing the evil. But there has been yet 
another detrimental influence at work, per- 
haps more potent than any of the others . we 
mean excess of mental applicatron. 

On old and young the pressure of mc«iern 
life puts a still-increasing strain. In all 
businesses and professions intenser competi- 
tion taxes the energies and abilities of every 



adult ; and, with th't view of better fitting 
the young to hold tlieir place liuder this in- 
tenser competition, they are subject to a 
more severe discipline than heretofore. The 
damage is tlius d!>ubled. l^'athera, who find 
not only that they are run liard by their mul- 
tiplying competitors, but that, while laboring 
under this disadvantage, they have to main- 
tain a more expensive style of living, are all 
the year round obliged to work early and 
late, taking little exercise and getting but 
short holidays. The constitutions, shaken 
b}' this long-coiitinued over application, they 
bequeath to their children. And then these 
comparatively feeble ciiildren, predisposed as 
.they are to break down even under an ordi- 
nary strain upon their energies, are required 
to go through a curriculum much more ex- 
tended than that prescribed for the unenfee- 
bled children of past generations. 

That disastrovK? consequences must result 
from this cumulative transgression might bo 
predicted with certainty ; and that they do 
result every observant petsrn knows. Go 
where you will, and before long there come 
under your notice cases of children or 
youths of either sex more or less injured by 
undue study. Here, to recover from a stale 
of debility thus produced, a year's rustica- 
tion has been found necessary. There you 
find a chronic congestion i»f the brain, that 
has already lasted many months, and threat- 
ens to last much linger. Now you hear of a 
fever that resulted from the over-excritcment 
in some way brought on at school. And, 
again the instance is that of a j'oulh who 
has already had once to desist from his stud- 
ies, and who, since he h;is returned to them, 
is frequently taken out of his class in a faint- 
ing fit. We state facts — facts that have not 
been sought for, but have l)een thrust upon 
our ob.<ervation during the last two year.s, 
and that too within a very limited range. 
Nor have we by any means exhausted the Irst. 
Quite recently we had the opportunity of 
mai'kiug how the evil becomes hereditary, 
the case being that of a lady of robust par- 
entage whose system was so injured by the 
regime of a Scotch boarding-school, w.here 
she was underfed and overworked, that she 
invariably sutfei-s from vertigo on rising in 
the morning, and whoso children, inheriting 
this enfeebled brain, are several of them un- 
able to bear even a moderate amount of study 
withfiut headache or giddiness. At the pres- 
ent time we have daily under our eyes a 
j'oung lady whose system has been damaged 
for life by the college course through which 
she has passed. Taxed as she was to such 
an extent that she had no energy left for ex- 
ercise, she 13, now that she has finished her 
education, a constant complainant. Appetite 
small and very capi'icious, mostly refusing 
meat ; extremities perpetually cold, even 
when the weather is warm ; a feebleness 
which forbids anything but the slov.'est walk- 
ing, and liiat only for a short time ; palpita- 
tion on going upstairs ; greatly impaired vis- 
ion — these, joined with checked growth and 
lax tissue, are among the results entailed. 



318 EDUCATION: INTELLECTUAL. MORAL, AND PHYSICAL. ] 

i 

And to her case we may add that of her friend and deficient exercise of the limbs — he found 

and fellow-student, who is similarly weak, to be habitually followed, not oaly by disor- 

who is liable to faint even under the excite- dered functions but by malformation. He 

ment of a quiet party of friends, and who says : " We lately visited, in a large town, a 

has at length been obliged by her medical at- boarding-school containing forty girls ; and 

tendant to desist from study entirely. we learned, on close and accurate inquiry, 

If injuries so conspicuous are thus fre- that there was not one of the gals who had 

queut, how very general must be the smaller been at the school two years (and the majori- 

and inconspicuous injuries. To one case ty had been as long) that was not more or 

where positive illness is directly traceable to less crooked!" 

over-application, there are probably at least It may be that since 1833, when this was J 

half a dozen cases where the evil is unobtru- written, some improvement lias talisn place. | 

give and slowly accumulating — cases where We hope it has. But that the syslem is still 

there is frequent derangement of the func- common — nay, that it is in some cases carried 

tions, attributed to this or that special cause, even to a greater extreme than ever — we can 1 

or to constitutional delicacy ; cases where personally testify. We recently went over jl 

there is retardation and premature arrest of a training college for young men — one of \ 

bodily growth ; cases where a latent tenden- those instituted of late years for the purpose ; 

cy to consumption is brought out and estab- of supplying schools with well-disciplmcd * 

Jished ; cases where a predisposition is given teachers. Here, under otticial supervision, 

to that now common cerebral disorder where something better than the judgment 

brought on by the hard work of adult life, of private schoolmistresses might have been 

How commonly constitutions are thus under- looked for, we found ther daily routine to L>e 

mined, will be clear to all who, after noting as follows : 
the frequent ailments of hard-worked profes- ^^ ^ ^-^^^^ ^he students ave called. 
Bional and mercantile men, will reflect on the " 7 to 8 studies. 
disastrous effects which undue application |- 8 to 9 Scripture reading, prayers, and breakfast i 

must produce upon the undeveloped systems .'! ?|'?J^f/'^'J'^:'®^" ^.„:„„ii„ j„„„t ^ ♦„ n „ 

- ^, '^ V,,, ' i ^ > l'.J to I'A leisure, norainally devoted to valkmjj 

of the young. 1 he young are competent to or othei- exercise, but often ppent in study. 

bear neither as much hardship nor as much " lii to 2 dinner, the meal commonly occupying 
physical exertion, nor as much mental exer- „ twenty minutes. 
tion, as the full grown. Judge, then, if the .< s to 6 tea and relaxation. 
full grown so manifestlj' suffer from the " 6 to 8'^ studies. 

excessive mental exertion required of them, " ^H to 9i4 private studies in preparing lessons for 
liow great must be the (lamage which amen- «< io\obe<L' "^' ; 

tal exertion, often equally excessive, inflicts ^, , , , , . , i 

upon the young ! Thus, out of the twenty-four hours, eight ; 

Indeed, when we examine the merciless a^e devoted to sleep ; four and a quarter are i 

school-drill to which many children are sub- occupied in dressing, prayers, meals, and the 

iected, the wonder is, not that it does great brief periods of rest accompanying them; 

injury, but that it can be borne at all. Take ten and a half are given to study ; and one 

the instance given by Sir John Forbes from ^nd a quarter to exercise, which is optional '■ 

personal knowledge ; and which he asserts, a^^d o^^en avoided Not only, however, 13 

after much inquiry, to be an average sample i* that the ten and a half hours of rccog- 

of the middle-class girls'-school system nized study are frequently increased to eleven 

tki-oMghout England. Omitting the detailed and a half by de-.-oting to bjoks the time set 

divisions of lime, we quote the summary of apa^t tor exercise, but some of the studeuts 

the twenty-four hours : ^^^o are not quick in learning get up at four 

o'clock in the morning to prepare their les- 
}nschooi.-artheir-etudies » ^«"" (^he younger 10) ^ ^^j actually encouraged by their 

and lasks 9 " teachers to do this ! The course to be passed 

III scliiol, or in the lioat^e, through in a given time is so extensive, the 

the other at optionaUtud- teachers, whose credit is at slake in getting 

ie> or the work, youii^rer :, . ' ., ,, ,, , ., •'^ .• ° 

«t iilay ......?.. 3'/j" (the younger S«) their pupils well through the examinations 

At mcuit<. 114" nre so urgent, and the difficulty of satisfy- 

Exercise in the open air, jujr w^^ requirements is so great, that pupils 

in rhe i^hupe of a formal ^ . ' 1 • 1 1 * 1 / .„i 

Walk, often with lesson- 8.re not uncomiuonl}' induced tospeni twelve 

books in hand, and even ftud thirteen hours a day in mental labor ! 
this only when the wea- It needs no prophet to see that the bodily 

pointed time. ..„.!.*''' 1 " injury inflicted must be great. As we were 

_ told by one of the inmates, those who arrive 

.24 with fresh coinplexions quickly became 

~ blanched. Illness is frequent , there are al- 

And what are the result? of this " astound- ^'^^^ s^'^'- °^ '''« sick-list. Failure of appe- 

Ing regimen, "as Sir .John Forbes terms it? Of tite and indigestion are very common. Di- 

course feebleness, pallor, want of spirits gen- arrhoea is a prevalent disorder, not uncom- 

eral ill-heallli. But he describes something ^oxily n third of the whole number of stu- 

more. This utter disregard of physical weU ^^"ts suffering under it at the same time, 

fare, out of extreme anxiety to cultivate Uie Headache is generally complained of, and 

mind— this prolonged exercise of the braia ^^ 8"*^« ^ ^^^^^ almost daily for months ; 



EDUCATION: INTELLECTUAL, MORAL. AND PHYSICAL. 



817 



while a certaiu percentage break down en- 
tirely and go away. 

That this should be the regimen of what 
is in soinu sort a model institution, estab- 
lished and superintended by the embodied 
enlightenment of tin- age, is a startling fact. 
That the severe examinations, joined with 
the short period assigned for preparation, 
should practically compel recourse to a sys- 
tem which iaevilahly umlermines the health 
of all who pass Ihrnugh it, is proof, if not of 
cruelty, tiien of woful ignorance. 

Doubtless the case is in a great degree ex- 
ceptional — perhaps to be paralleled only in 
other institutions of the same class. But that 
cases so extreme should exist at all indicates 
pretty clearly how great, is the extent to 
which the minds of the rising generation are 
overtasked. Expressing as they do the ideas 
of the educated community, these training 
colleges, even in the absence of all other evi- 
dence, would conclusively imply a prevailing 
tendency to an unduly urgent system of cul- 
ture. 

It seems strange that there should be so 
little consciousness of the dangers of over- 
education during youth, when there is so 
general a consciousness of the dangers of 
over-education during childhood. Most par- 
ents are more or less aware of the evil con- 
sequences that follow infant precocity. In 
every society may be heard reprobation of 
those who too early stimulate the minds of 
their little ones. And the dread of this early 
stimulation is great in proportion as there i'a 
adequate knowledge of the effects ; witness 
the implied opinion of one of our most dis- 
tinguished professors of physiology, who 
told us that he did not intend his little boy 
to learn any lessons untd he was eight years 
old. But while to all it is a fannliar truth 
that a forced development of intelligence in 
childhood entails disastrous results — either 
physical feebleness, or ultimate stupidity, or 
early rleath — it appears not to be perceived 
that throughout youlh the same truth hi.lds. 
Yet it is certain that it nuist do so. There 
is a given order in which and a given rate at 
which the faculties unfold. If the course 
of education conforms itself tothat order and 
rate, well. If not — if the higher faculties 
are early taxed by presenting an order of 
knowledge more complex and abstract than 
can be readily assimilated ; or if, by excess 
of culture, the intellect in general is developed 
to a degree beyond that which is natural to 
the age — the abnormal result so produced 
will inevitably be accompanied by some 
equivdent, or more than equivalent, evil. 

For nature is a strict accountant ; and if 
you demand of her in one direction more than 
Bhe is prepared to lay out, she balances the 
account by making a deduction elsewhere. 
If you will let her follow her own course, 
taking care to supply, in right quantities and 
kinds, the raw materials of bodily and men 
tal growih required at each age, she will 
eventually pi oduce an indiv idual more or less 
evenly developed. If, however, you insist 
on premature or undue growth of any one 



part, she will, with more or less pretest, coii- 
cede the point ; but that she may do your 
extra work she must leave Bome of her more 
important wurk undone. Let it never be 
forgotten that the amount of vital energy 
which the body at any moment possesses i's 
limited, and tliat, being limiied, it is impos- 
sible to get from it moie than a fixed quan 
tity of results. In a child or youth the de 
mands upon this vital energy are various and 
urgent. As before pointed out, the waste 
consequent on the day's bodily exercise baa 
to be repaired ; the wear of brain entailed by 
the day's study has to be made good ; a cer- 
tain additional growth of body has to be 
provided for, and also a certain additional 
growth of brain ; add to which the amount 
of energy absorbed in the digestion of the 
large quantity of food required for meeting 
these many demands. Now, that to divert 
an excess of energy into any one of these 
channels is to abstract it from the others is 
not only manifest a priori, but may be 
shown a posteriori from the experience of 
every one. Every one knows, for instance, 
that the digestion of a heavy meal makes 
such a demand on the system as to produce 
lassitude of mind and body, ending not im- 
frequently in sleep. Every one knows, too, 
that excess of bodily exercise diminishes the 
power of thought— "that the temporary pros- 
tration following any sudden exertion, or the 
fatigue produced by a thirty miles' walk, i.s 
accompanied by a disinclination to mental 
effort; that after a month's jiedestrian tour 
the mental inertia is sueli that some days are 
required to overcome it .; and that in peas- 
ants who spend their lives in muscular labor 
the activity of mind is very small. Aaain. 
it is a truth familiar to all that during those 
fits of extreme rapid growth which some- 
times occur in childhood, the great abstrac- 
tion of energy is shown in the attendant 
prostration, bodily and mental. Once more, 
the facts that violent muscularexertion after 
eating will stop ilii^restim, and that children 
who are early put to hard labor become 
f-tuuted, similarly exhibit the antagonism — 
similaily imply that excess of activity in one 
direction involves deficiency of it in other 
directions. Now the law which is thus 
manifest in extreme cases holds in all cases. 
These injurious abstractions of energy as 
certainl}' take place when the undue demands 
are slight and constant as Avhen they are 
great and sudden. Hence if in youth the 
expenditure in mental labor exceeds that 
which nature had provided tor, the expend- 
iture for other purposes falls below what it 
should have beeu, and evils of one kind or 
other are inevitably entailed. Let U3 briefly 
consider these evils. 

Supposing the over-activity of brain not to 
be extreme, but to exceed the normal activ- 
ity only in a moderate degree, there will be 
nothing more than some slight reaction on 
the development of the body : the stature 
falling a little below that which it would else 
ha/e preached, or the bulk being less than it 
would have been, or the quality of tissue 



81S 



EDUCATION: INTELLECTUAL, MORAL, AND PHYSICxiL. 



being not so good. One or more of these 
effects must necessarily occur. The extra 
qiiaiUily of blood suppiicd to tlie brain, not 
only during the periud of mental exertion 
but during the subsequent period in which 
the -waste of cerebial substance is being made 
good, is blood that would else have been cir- 
culating through the limbs and viscera ; and 
the amount of gruwth or repair for which 
that blood would have supplied materials is 
lost. This physical reaelion beia^f certain, 
the question is, whether the gain resulting 
from the extra culture is equivalent to the 
lossV whether defect of bodily growth, or 
the want of that structural perfection which 
gives high vigor and endurance, is compen- 
sated for by the additional knowledge 
gained ? 

When the excess of mental exertion is 
greater, there follow results far more seri- 
ous, telling not only against bodily perfec- 
tion but against the perfection of the brain 
itself. It is a physiological law, first pointed 
out by M. Isidore St. Hilaire, and to which 
attention has been drawn by Mr. Lewes in 
his essay on "Dwarfs and' Giants," that 
there is an antagonism betwetn grmcth and 
devdopinent. By growth, as used in this an- 
tithetical sense, is to be understood increase 
of size; by development, increase of structure. 
And the law is, that great activity in either 
of these processes involves retardation or 
arrest of the other. A familiar illustration is 
furnished by the cases of the caterpill;;r and 
the chrysalis. In the caterpillar there is ex- 
tremely rapid augmentation of bulk ; but the 
structure is scarcely at all more complex 
when the caterpillar is full-grown than when 
it is small. In the chrysalis the bulk does 
not increase ; on the contrary, weight is lost 
during this stage of the creature's life ; but 
the elaboration of a more complex structure 
goes on with great activitj'. The antago- 
nism, here so clear, is less traceable in higher 
creatures, because the two processes are 
carried on together. But we see it pretty 
well illustrated among ourselves by contrast- 
ing the sexes. A girl develops in body and 
mind rapidly, and ceases to grow compara- 
tively early. A boy's bodily and mental de- 
velopment is slower, and his growlli greater. 
At the age when the one is mature, finished, 
and having all faculties in full play, the 
other, whose vital energies have bien more 
directed toward increase of size, is relatively 
incomplete in struclure, and shows it in a 
comparative awkwardness, bodily and men- 
tal. Now this law is true not only of the 
organism as a whole, but of each separate 
part. The abnormally rapid ad^'unce nf any 
part in respect of structure involves prema 
ture arrest of its growth, and this happens 
with the organ of the mind as certainly as 
with any oWwx organ. The braui, wnich 
during early years is relatively large in mass 
but imperfect in structure, will, if requited 
to perform its functions with imdue aciivity, 
undergo a structural advance greater than is 
appropriate to the age ; but the idtiiuate 
etfeut will be a falling short of the size iiud 



power that would else have been attained. 
And tills is a part cause — probably the chief 
cause — why precocious childr u, aftid youths 
who up to a certain time were carrying ail 
before them, so often slop short and disap- 
point the high hopes of tlieir parents. 

But these results of over-education, dis- 
astrous as they are, are perhaps less disas- 
trous than the results produced upnn the 
health — the undermined constitution, the en 
feebled energies, the raorbitl feelings. Re- 
cent disco veiies in physiology have shown 
how immense is the influence of the brain 
over the functions of the body. The dig!-s- 
taon of the food, the circulation of the blood, 
and through these all otiier organic process- 
es, are profoundly affected by cerebral ex- 
citement. Whoever has seen repeated, as 
we have, the experiment first performed by 
Weber, showing the consequence of iriitat- 
ing the vagus nerve which connects the brain 
with the viscera — whoever has seen the aelirm 
of the heart suddenly' arrested by the irrita- 
tion of this nerve, slowly recommencing 
when the irritation is suspended, and again 
arrested the moment it is renewed — will li.n'e 
a vivid conception of tlie depressing influ- 
ence which an overwrought brain exercises 
on the body. The effects thus physiologi- 
cally explained are iutleed exemplified in 
ordinary experience. There is no one but 
has felt the palpitation accompanying hop.i, 
fear, anger, joy — no one but has observed 
how labored becomes tiie acticju uf the heart 
when these feelings are very violent. And 
though there are many who have never them- 
selves suffered that extreme erajtioaal ex- 
Giteiuent wiiich is followed by arrest of the 
heart's action aud fainting, yet every one 
knows them to be cause and elf ect. It is a 
familiar fact, t )o, that disturbance of tlie 
stomach is entailed by ment d excitement ex- 
ceeding a certain intensity. Loss of appe- 
tite is a common result ahke of very pleas- 
arable and very painful state3 of mind. 
When the event producing a pleasurable or 
painful state of mind occurs shortly after a 
meal, it not uufrequenlly happens either that 
the stomach rejects what has been eaten, or 
digests it with great dilBculty and under pro- 
longed protest. And as every one who taxes 
his brain much can testify, even purely iu- 
tallectual action will, when excessive, pro- 
duce analogous elfocts. Now the relation 
between brain and body which is so manifest 
in these extreme cases holds equally in ordi- 
nary, less-marked cases. Just a,s these violent 
but temporary cerebral excitements produce 
violent but lempoiary disturbances of the 
"^isccra, so do ihc less violent bat cluouic 
cerebral excitements produce less violent but 
chronic visct.'ral disiur'oauces. Tiiis is not 
simply an inference — it is a truth to which 
every medical man can bear witness, and it 
is one to which a long and sad experience 
enables us to give personal testimony. Vari- 
ous degrees and forms of i)oddy derange- 
ment, often taking years of enforced idleness 
to set partially right, result from this pro- 
longed over-eieitiou of mind. Sometime* 



TION: INTELLECTUAL, 3I0RAL. AND PHYSICAL. 



-fte aeart is chiefly affected — Iiabitiial pal(>i- 
latious, a pulse much enfcfibled, and Tory 
ffOQeruUy a dimiaution in the number of 
beats from seveul.35.rlwo lo six<y, or even 
fewer. Sometimes r!ie couspicuous disorder 
is of the stouiaeh — a dyspepsia which makes 
life a burden, and is amenable to no remedy 
but time. In many cases both heart and 
stomach are implicated. Mostly the sleep is 
ehort and broken. And very L-.-nerally there 
is more or less menial deprLis.-i.iu. 

Coasidej:, then, how great must be the 
damage inflicted by undue mental excitement 
on cliildien and youdis, More or less of 
this cou.stilutioiial disturbance will inevitably 
follow an exertion of brain beyond that 
which nature had provided for ; and when 
not so excejjsive as to produce absolute ill- 
ness, is sure to entail a slowly accumuladug 
degeneracy of pliydque. With a small and 
fastidious appetite, an imperfect digestion, 
and an enfeebled circulation, how can the 
developing body flourish ? The due per- 
formance of every vital process depends on 
the adequate supply of good blood. With- 
out enough good blood, no gland can secrete 
properly, no viscus can fully discharge its 
oflice. Without enough good blood, no 
nerve, muscle, membrane, or other tissue can 
be efficiently repaired. Without enough 
good blood, growth will neither be sound 
nor sutHcicnt. Judge, then, how bad must 
be the consequences when to a growing body 
the weakened stomach supplies blood that is 
deficient in quantity and poor in quality, 
■while the debilitated heart propels this poor 
and scanty blood with unnatural slowness. 

And if, as all who candidly investigate the 
matter must admit, physical degeneracy is a 
consequence of excessive study, how grave 
is the condemnation lo be passed upon this 
cramming system above exemplified. It Is a 
terrible mistake, from whatever point of view 
regarded. It is a mistake in so far as the 
m{;re acquirement of knowledge is concerned ; 
for it is notorious that the mind, like the 
body, cannot assimilate beyond a certain 
rate ; and if you ply it with facts faster than 
it can assimilate them, they are very soon re- 
jected again : they do not become perma- 
nently built into the intellectual fabric, but 
fall out of recollection after the passing of 
the examination for which they were got up. 
It is a mistake, loo, because it tends lo make 
etudy distasteful. Either through the pain- 
ful associations produced by ceaseless mental 
toil, or through the abnormal state of brain 
It leaves behind, it often generates an aver- 
sion to books ; and instead of that subse- 
quent self-culture induced by a rational edu- 
cation, there comes a continued retrogression. 
It is a mistake, also, inasmuch as it assumes 
that the acquisition of knowledge is every- 
thing, and forgets that a much more impor- 
tant matter is the organization of knowledge, 
for which time and spontaneous thinking are 
requisite. Just as Humboldt remarks re- 
specting the progress of intelligence in gen- 
eral, that " the interpretation of nature is ob- 
scured when the description languished un- 



der too great an accumulation of insulated 

facts," so it may be remarked, respecting 
the progress of individual intelligence, that 
the mind is overburdened and hampered by 
an excess of ill-digested information, it is 
not the knowledge stored up as intellectual 
fat which is of value, but that which is 
turned into intellectual muscle. But the 
mistake is still deeper. Even were tlie sys- 
tem good as a s^'stem of intellectual training, 
which it is not, it would still be bad, because, 
as we have shown, it is fatal to that vigor of 
'physique which is needful to make intellec- 
tual training available in the struggle of life. 
Those who, in eagerue.s.s to cultivate their 
pupils' minds, are reckless of their bodies, 
do not remember that success in the world 
dei)ends much more upon energy than upon 
information ; and that a policy which in 
cramming with information undermines en- 
ergy is self-defeating. The strong will and 
untiling activity which result from abundant 
animal vigor go far to comiiensate even for 
great defects of education ; and when joined 
with that quite adequate edvication which 
may be obtained without saci dicing health 
they insure an easy victory over competitors 
enfeebled by excessive study, prodigies of 
learning though they may be. A compara- 
tively small and ill-made engine, worked at 
high pressure, will do more than a larger 
and well-finished one worked at low press- 
ure. What folly is it, then, while finishing 
the engine, so to damage the l>oiler tbat it 
will not generate steam ! Once more, the sys- 
tem is a mistake, as involving a false esti- 
mate of welfare in life. Even supposing it 
were a means to worldly success, instead of 
a means to worhily failure, yet, in the en- 
tailed ill-health it would inflict a more than 
equivalent curse. What boots it to have 
attained wealth, if the wealth is accompanied 
by cetifccless ailments? Wliat is the worth 
of distinction, if it has brought hypochondria 
with it? Surely none needs Celling that a 
good digestion, a bounding pulse, and high 
spirits are elements of hiijipines'S which no 
external advantages can oulluilaiice. Chronic 
bodily disorder casts a gloeni over the btight- 
e.st prospects, while the vivacity of strong 
health gilds even misfortune. We contend, 
then, that this over-educiition is vicious in 
every way — vicious, as giving knowledge 
that will soon be forgotten ; vicious, as pro- 
ducing a disgust for knowledge ; vicious, as 
neglecting that organization of knowledge 
which is more important than its acquisition ; 
vicious, as weakening or destroying that en- 
ergy, without which a trained intellect is use- 
leas ; vicious, as entailing that ill-health for 
which even success would not compensate, 
and which makes failure doubly bitter. 

On women the eflecis of this forcing sys- 
tem are, if possible, even more injurious tiuin 
on men. Being in great measure debarred 
from those vigorous and enjoyable exercLsos 
of body by which boys mitigate the evils of 
excessive study, girls feed these evils in their 
full intensity. Hence the much smaller pro- 
Bortion of them who grow up well made and 



820 



EDUCATION : INTELLECTUAL. MORAL. AND PHYSICAL. 



healtby. In the pjJe, angular, flat-chested 
young ladies so abundant, in London dmw- 
in^-rooms we see thu effect of merciless «j>- 
plicatiou unrelieved by youthful sports ; and 
this plijsi(ml degeneracy exiiibited by theui 
binders their welfare far more tiian their 
niauy accomplishments aid it. Mammas 
anxioua to make their dangiiters attractivo 
could scarcely choose a course more fatal 
than this, wliicli sacrifices the body to the 
mind. Either they disregard the tastes of 
the opposite sex, or else their conception of 
those tantes is. erroneous. Men care oompar- 
atively little for erudition in women, but 
very much for pliysical beauty, and good na- 
ture, and sound sense. How many conquests 
does the blue-stocking make through her ex- 
tensive knowledge of history ? What man 
ever fell in love with a woman because slie 
understood Italian? Where is the Edwin 
■who was brought to Angelina's feet by her 
German ? But rosy cheeks and laughing 
eyes are great attractions. A finely-rounded 
figure draws admiring glances. The liveli- 
ness and good-humor that overflowing health 
produces go a great way toward establishing 
attachments. Every one knows cases where 
bodily perfections, in the absenca of all other 
recommendations, have incited a passion 
that carried all before it ; but scarcely any 
cue can point to a case where mere intellec- 
tual acquirements, apart from moral or phys- 
ical attributes, have aroused such a feeling. 
Tlie truth is that, out of the many elements 
uniting in various proportions to produce in 
a man's breast that complex emotion which 
we call love, the strongest are those produced 
by physical attractions ; the next in order of 
strength are those produced by moral at- 
tractions ; the weakest are those produced 
by intellectual attractions ; and even these 
are dependent much less upon acquired 
knowledge than on natural faculty — quick- 
ness, wit, insight. If any think tlie asser- 
tion a derogatory one, and inveigh against 
the masculine character for being thus 
Bwayed, we reply that they little know what 
they say when they thus call in question the 
divine ordinations. Even were there no ob- 
vious meaning in the arrangement, we might 
be sure that some importaut end was sub- 
served. But the meaning is quite obvious to 
those who exaniine. It needs but to remem- 
ber that one of nature's ends, or rather her 
supreme end, is the welfare of posterity ; it 
needs but to remember that, in so far as pos- 
terity are concerned, a cultivated intelli- 
ge)ice based upon a bad physique is of little 
worth, seeing that its descendants will die 
out in a generation or two ; it needs but to 
bear in mind that a goed physique, however 
poor the accompnnving mental endowments, 
ie worth preserving, because, througliout 
future generations, the mental endowments 
may be indefinitely developed ; it needs but 
to contemplate these truths, to see how im- 
portant i, Aie balance of instincts above de- 
Bcrilied. But, purpose apnrt, tlie instincts 
being thus balanced, it is a fatal folly to ])er- 
sist iu a system which undermines a girl's 



constitution that it may overload hr-r mem- 
ory. Educate as hitrhly as possible — the 
higher the bt-tter — providiusj no bodily ia- 
jai'y is entailed (and we may remark, in 
passing, that a high standard might be so 
lefiched were the parrot-faculty cultivated 
less, and the hiiman faculty more, and 
wire the discipline extended over that now 
wasted perio(i between leaving school and 
being married). But to educate in such 
manner or to such extent as to produce 
physical degeneracy is to deli-at the ciiief 
end for which the toil and cost and anxiety 
are submitted to. By subjecting their 
daughters to this high-pressure system, par- 
ents frequently ruin liieir pri.si)ects in life. 
Not only do they iijflict on them enfeebled 
health, with all its pains and diuabiliiies and 
gloom, but very oiten they actually doom 
them to celibacy. 

Our general conclusion is, then, that 
the ordinary treatment of children is, in 
various ways, seriously pn-judicial. It 
errs in deficient feedinu, in deficient cloth- 
ing, in deficient exercise (among girls at 
least), and iu excessive mental applica- 
tion. Considering the regime as a whole, 
its tendency is too exacting ; it asks too 
much and gives too little. In the extent to 
which it taxes the vital energies it makes the 
juvenile life much more like tlie adult life 
than it should be. It overlooks the truth 
that as in the foetus the entire vitality is ex- 
pended in the direction of growth — as in the 
infant the expenditure of vitality in growth 
is so great as to leave extremely little for 
either physical or mental action — so through- 
out childhood and youth growth is the domi- 
nant requirement to whicii all others must 
be subordinated : a requirement which dic- 
tates the giving of much and the taking 
away of little — a requirement which, there- 
fore, restricts the exertion of body and mind 
to a degree proportionate to the rapidity of 
growth — a requirement which permits the 
mental and physical activities to increase 
only as fast as the rate of growth diminishes. 

Regarded from an< ther point of view, this 
high-pressure education manifestly results 
from our passing phase of civilization. In 
primitive times, when aggression and defence 
were the leading social activities, bodily vig- 
or with its acc(mipanying courage were the 
desiderata ; and then education was almost 
wholly physical : mental cultivation was lit- 
tle cared for, and indeed, as in our own feu- 
dal ages, was often treated with contempt. 
But now that our state is relatively peaceful 
— now that muscular power is of use for lit- 
tle else than manual labor, while social suc- 
cess of nearly every kind depends very much 
on mental power, our education has become 
almost exclusively mental. Instead of re- 
specting the body and ignoring the mind, we 
now respect the mind and ignore the body. 
Both these attitudes are wrong. We do nov 
yet sufficiently realize the truth that as in 
this life of ours the physical underlies the 
mental, the mental must not be develop- 
ed at the expense of the physical. The an- 



EDUCATION: INTELLECTUAL, MORAL, AND PHTSICAU 



etent and modem conceptions must be com- 
bined. 

Perhaps notliing will ao much hasten the 
time when body and mind will both be ade- 
quately cared for as a diffusion of the belief 
that the preservation of health is a duty. 
Few seem conscious that there is such a 
thing as physical morality. Men's habitual 
words and acts imply the idea that they are 
at liberty to treat their bodies as they please. 
Disorders entailed by disobedience to na- 
ture's dictates they regard simply aa griev- 
ances, not as the effects of a conduct more 
or less flagitious. Though the evil conse- 
quences inflicted on their dependants and 



on future generations are often ns ,gT*s.t as 
those caused by crime, yet tbey do not think 
themselves in any d^ree criminaJ. li is 
true that, in the case of drunkenaesB, the 
viciousness of a purely bodily transgresBion 
is recognized, but none appear to infer that, 
if this bodily transgression is vicious, so too 
is every bodily transgression. The fact is, 
that all breaches of the laws of health ar« 
phyfdcal sins. Wlien this is gesieisaJly K«eii, 
then, and perhaps not till then, Will the physi- 
cal training of thw young receive afl. the at- 
tention it deserves. 

THE ENDu 



CONTEISTTS. 



PAGE 

I.— What Snowledsjc is of Most Wcwth ? 26b \ IIT. 

II.-iii.'.t<»M:auaf jttaucatiou sS4l iV.' 



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o. I. LIGHT SCIENCE FOR LEISURE 
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By George Rawlinson. 

26. THE EVOLUTIONIST AT LARGB. 

By Grant Allen. . 

27. LANDHOLDING IN ENGLAND. ' 

By Joseph Fisher. 

28. FASHION IN DEFORMITY, as iltiw. 

trated in the Customs of Barbarous anil 
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HEREDITARY TRAITS; with otlier e». 
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VIGNETTES FROM NATURE. 

By Grant Allen. 
THE PHILOSOPHY OF STYLE. 

By Herbert Spencer. 
ORIENTAL RELIGIONS. 
By John Cairo and others. 
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DARWIN AND HUMBOLDT. 
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By Th. Ribot. Translated by J. Fiia- 

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By Edward Clodd. 

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